What Does a Woman Want? by Esther Nelson



Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), well-known Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis, “…said once to Marie Bonaparte: ‘The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul is, ‘What does a woman want?’” (“Was will das Weib?”) ― Sigmund Freud: Life and Work (Hogarth Press, 1953) by Ernest Jones.


I don’t believe Freud ever answered the question posed here satisfactorily.  Women’s desire—even today—hovers in the taboo category.  After all, in our hierarchal, patriarchal society women’s wants/desires are mediated through social structures and institutions that favor men.  It’s easy to overlook since we all are spawned and then swim in those patriarchal waters.

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