Sigmund Freud’s influence on modern day thinking permeates into our lives every day whether or not we realize it. Although much of his work has either been refuted or revised, his ideas have influenced an enormous spectrum of psychology and how we view life through our own thoughts. While his influence is irrefutable, the opinions concerning Freud and his writings vary greatly throughout the world. Individuals may distinguish the great genius in his groundbreaking theories of psychoanalysis, or they may reject his writings arguing that he had pushed the envelope too far. Either way, it is safe to say that his theories still evoke a considerable amount of debate to this day. Out of all of Freud’s theories, however, it can be argued that his views on women and feminine psychology are the most controversial.
The debate between Freud and feminists has been well documented through the writings of many authors. The Enigma of Women is one of several books that have been published that analyzes the issues between Freud and feminism. In The Enigma of Women, Sarah Kofman comments on Freud’s prediction that feminists would take to the warpath against his writings on the women arguing that Freud’s theories are “rife” with masculine prejudice (11). Other credible books, such as Samuel Slipp’s The Freudian Mystique raise important questions on Freud’s theories of feminism. Why did Freud make such grossly biased and incorrect statements about women, while in other areas he was a very perceptive and accurate observer? Slipp argues that it was Freud’s genius and his monumental discoveries in other areas of mental functioning that lent credibility to his theories on women (12). Some of the earliest disagreements about Freud’s feminine psychology had been voiced by the German female psychoanalyst Karen Horney. Horney composed a series of essays between 1922 and 1935 arguing against