Page - 13 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

The body ego 13 basically something’s wrong with you. You think, there’s no place where you are desirable; you’re convinced that there’s nobody who will take you and your body as they are. P: (in a stronger voice): With me, everything went so fast. Within two years I got breasts and hips. Everyone in my family made a comment. I was so ashamed and wanted to cover up my body. I always put a sweater over my waist when I went in the kitchen. A: You lived together with three men (the father and two brothers) at home. P: My mother was the one who commented most, and everyone found it so funny. One time it was really bad. I had on a pair of pants with an oil spot. My mother said: the oil is dripping out like crazy. Everyone laughed. I had gained three kilos. (Pause) When I went out with my girlfriends, it was different. We put on funny clothes and set forth: halters, shorts and high boots, you could see everything in between. A: You liked being under the protection of your girlfriends, when you all showed off your bodies and were admired. There, it was provocative and fun. At home, you hid your body and were ashamed, in order not to provoke your jealous mother. Discussion Fritzi first told me in a broken voice, in disjointed sentences, of how shameful she found the changes in her body. Before the changes she had dressed like a boy – wearing her brother’s clothes, with a short haircut. Then everything became different. Instead of helping her to accept her new body, her fam- ily mocked her and it. Presumably, there was rivalry with her mother, who may have found Fritzi’s transformation from a “little tomboy” to an attrac- tive young woman threatening. (The topic of mother -daughter rivalry will be examined more closely in the following chapter on psychosexual devel- opment.) Remarkably, Fritzi covers her body in loose, long dresses even at the age of 30. As an adolescent she lacked the confidence to exhibit her new curves, instead tying a sweater around her hips. Yet in her circle of friends, she embarked on campaigns to show off her body, making it an object for admira- tion; in order that boys could not overlook her body, she at times donned par- ticularly extreme clothes. These two patterns of behavior were not integrated but had a parallel existence. Now, we will turn to the development of the male adolescent’s body. Changes in the male body Changes in the male body – and the adolescent’s reaction to them – manifest them- selves in diverse ways. Growth of secondary sexual characteristics is activated by the secretion of the masculine hormone testosterone. The neuropsychiatrist