Chapter four discusses Freud's Psychoanalytic theories, which seem to be very controversial, even today. Some I agree with, but for the most part, I do not take Freud's theories too seriously. Although I do believe that what happens to you during your childhood can have a drastic impact on your development, which occurs in stages, I do not agree with many of his specific stages of development. .
His first two stages, the oral and the anal stage, I do find believable. Infants focus on feeding, whether from the bottle or the breast, during this stage as the primary source for nourishment in order to survive. During the anal stage, potty training takes place, which is another important developmental milestone. These stages describe each child, whether they are male or female, during the time of infancy until about the age of four. .
Around the age of four, children reach the identification stage, according to Freud. During this stage, "penis envy" occurs in girls, and "castration anxiety" occurs in boys. "Penis envy" has to do with a girl's feeling of inadequacy and inferiority because they do not have a penis, and "castration anxiety" stems from a boys fear that his father will castrate him if he ever found out about the sexual feelings that the little boy was having towards his mother. It is my opinion that Freud's theories are too sexualized, as they were developed during the Victorian Era, a time of sexual repression. It was illegal for a woman to even expose her ankle during this time period. I think many of his theories were just a representation of the sexual tension most people were feeling. I do not believe that children experience "penis envy" or "castration anxiety.".
