Phallic monism is a term introduced by Chasseguet-Smirgel[1] to refer to the theory that in both sexes the male organ—i.e.
[3] Freud identified as the central theme of the phallic stage a state of mind in which "maleness exists, but not femaleness.
[7] Trenchant early criticism of Freud's monism was made by Karen Horney, who suggested that the psychoanalytic view had itself become fixated at the level of the small boy aggrandising himself at his sister's expense.
[8] Ernest Jones too was quick to maintain that woman was not, as Freud seemed to suggest, "un homme manqué...struggling to console herself with secondary substitutes alien to her true nature".
[9] Jacques Lacan reformulated Freud's phallic monism through his theory of the phallus as signifier;[10] but Kleinians, post-Kleinians, and those influenced by second-wave feminism have all articulated a more positive view of femininity, articulating the belief in phallic monism as a survival into adulthood of a (male) infantile sexual theory.