Penis envy is a stage theorized by
Sigmund Freud regarding
female psychosexual development, in which female
adolescents experience anxiety upon realization that they do not have a
penis. Freud considered this realization a defining moment in a series of transitions toward a mature female sexuality and
gender identity. In Freudian theory, the penis envy stage begins the transition from an attachment to the mother to competition with the mother for the attention, recognition and affection of the father. The parallel reaction of a
boy's realization that women do not have a penis is
castration anxiety.