1 result for (book:notp AND session:768 AND stemmed:femal)
[... 9 paragraphs ...]
The male-female, female-male orientation is not nearly as separate as it appears to be in your present experience. It is not nearly as tied to psychological characteristics as you suppose. Nor is it inherently focused in the particular age period in which it now shows itself. Puberty arrives, so to speak, but the time of its arrival varies according to the needs of the species, its conditions and beliefs. You are an individual for life. You operate as a reproducing individual, generally speaking, for only a portion of that time.
[... 3 paragraphs ...]
When the process began, however, the deep power of nature had to be “controlled” so that the growing consciousness could see itself as apart from this natural source. Yet children, so necessary to the species, continued to spring from women’s wombs. Therefore the natural source was most flagrant, observable, and undeniable. For that reason the species — and not the male alone — placed so many taboos about female behavior and sexuality. In “subduing” its own female elements, the species tried to gain some psychological distance from the great natural source from which it was, for its own reasons, trying to emerge.
[... 4 paragraphs ...]
The slightest deviation is looked upon with dismay, so that personal identity and worth are completely tied into identification with femaleness or maleness. Completely different characteristics, abilities, and performances are expected from those in each category. A male who does not feel himself fully male, therefore, does not trust his identity as a person. A woman doubtful of her complete femininity in the same manner does not trust the integrity of her personhood.
[... 8 paragraphs ...]