The Two Stages of the Oedipus Complex. A Phallic Stage of Identity and a Vaginal Phallic Stage

If the Freudian theory of phallic monism pauperises the notions of psychic bisexuali-ty and female sexuality, it also obscures many nuanced descriptions of the female sex that can be found in certain Freudian texts. It would be more fruitful to think in terms of a phallic monism for the boy and phallic-clitoridian monism for the girl. It would be a source of supportive genital identifications before approaching the Oedipal conflict. Two stages may be posited. The first, a quiescent “phallic stage of identity” emphasizing a homosexual dyadic object-relationship with the father and a heterosexual dyadic object-relationship with the mother in the case of the boy; and, a homosexual and heterosexual dyadic relationship with the mother and a heterosexual dyadic relationship with the father in the case of a girl. A second, diphasic stage, an “apres-coup”, called the “vaginal-phallic stage”, will be co-constructed when the Oedipal complex ac-quires its full meaning of producing thirdness.