In the last two decades Freud s views on women have been subject to<br >careful scrutiny and refl)rmulation both within and outside<br >psychoanalysis.<br > In the wake of the social， economic， and political revolution of<br >our times， tile foundations of the traditional patriarchal family have<br >been shaken， changing radically the relationships between men and<br >women. Whether driven by economic necessity or the need for crea-<br >tive self expression， women of all classes now participate at all levels of<br >society in a wide variety of occupations and life styles. The impact of<br >this tumultuous change on women s consciousness， individuation， and<br >self-image is a major preoccupation of social scientists who are on the<br >torefront of the debate concerning the psychoanalytic theory of<br >feminine development.<br > Within psychoanalysis itself， clinicians turn increasingly to empir-<br >ical studies of child development to validate， refute， or rework Freud s<br >ideas. This endeavor is in the spirit of Freud s own insistence upon the<br >value of direct observation. Yet， it has led to a paradox whereby the<br >same evidence is often used by different theorists both to confirm and<br >disprove classical theory. As if this were not confusing enough， a<br >highly articulate group， following Lacan s view that psychoanalysis is<br >an interpretative discipline， dismiss empirical proof as irrelevant for<br >psychoanalysis.<br > While the controversy on methodology rages， a proliferation of<br >studies on women s individuation have poured forth， generated by<br >the ferment within psychoanalysis. The new formulations are the<br >outgrowth of the changing perspectives on narcissism， the increased<br >understanding of the preoedipal years， the work on attachment be-<br >havior and the mother-child dyad， and， most recently， the influential<br >studies of gender identity formation.<br > Foremost among the new ideas is Stoller s concept of a core gen-<br >der identity that revives and extends Jones s and Horney s objections<br >to Freud s normative psychosexual stages for women. A core gender<br >identity represents an awareness each child develops of being either<br >