The path of femininity

Abstract

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman
— Simone de Beauvoir, 1949
When thinking about this quote by Simone de Beauvoir, a question arises: I understand that the Feminine is different from Femininity, as the latter speaks to us of an erogenous construction.
It is worth noting, in this context, that Freud (1905/1969a) considered that there was no substantial difference in the psychosexual development between boys and girls up to the phallic stage. Masturbation occurs in both, in girls through stimulation of the clitoris and in boys, through stimulation of the penis. For Freud, a girl, upon realizing the absence of a penis, would have as her first reaction a violent envy. In this logic, while a boy fears castration and renounces his mother to avoid being castrated, a girl believes she has already been castrated. The girl, in this way, would be tied to her father, hoping to receive the desired penis — which would become her father's desired child, but little by little, she becomes disillusioned, until she chooses another love object. [...]