Concept
Womb envy
The envy of pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood, of the breasts and of suckling, that Karen Horney in 1926 found in boys and men and called Mutterschaftsneid, envy of motherhood; the English name womb envy attached to her idea later. She set it beside the girl's penis envy as its counterpart, suggested that men's drive to creative achievement partly compensates for it, and argued that the psychoanalytic picture of women as lacking reflects a masculine point of view.
- Introduced by
- Karen Horney
- Key works
- 1
- Related
- Penis envy
introduced by
- Karen Horney 1926 Horney's own word was Mutterschaftsneid, envy of motherhood; the English name womb envy came to be attached to the idea later.
diverges from
- Penis envy 1926 Horney framed envy of motherhood as the male counterpart of penis envy, reversing the direction of envy and so denying penis envy its place as the single key to sexual difference.