| Part of a series on |
| Feminism |
|---|
.svg) |
 Feminism portal |
In psychology, womb envy denotes the envy that men may feel of the biological functions of the female (pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding). The neo-Freudian psychiatrist Karen Horney (1885–1952) proposed this as an innate male psychological trait. These emotions could fuel the social subordination of women, and drive men to succeed in other areas of life, such as business, medicine, law, and politics.[1][2][3] Each term is analogous to the concept of female penis envy presented in Freudian psychology. In this they address the gender role social dynamics underlying the "envy and fascination with the female breasts and lactation, with pregnancy and childbearing, and vagina envy [that] are clues and signs of transsexualism and to a femininity complex of men, which is defended against by psychological and sociocultural means".[4]
- ^ Horney, Karen (1967). Feminine Psychology. W.W. Norton Company, New York.
- ^ "Karen Horney | German psychoanalyst". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
- ^ McElvaine, Robert S. (2001). Eve's Seed: Biology, the Sexes, and the Course of History. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- ^ Warnes, H.; Hill, G. (1974). "Gender Identity and the Wish to be a Woman". Psychosomatics. 15 (1): 25–29. doi:10.1016/S0033-3182(74)71290-7. PMID 4413549.