The core of the castration complex is castration anxiety. Castration anxiety literally means the fear that one’s testicles will be chopped off.
The other day, I was talking to a friend who related to me a dream in which he was a Roman soldier standing at the bedside of his frail, ailing, 80–year old mother. In this lucid dream, he was aware of being this fierce, fearless Centurion and yet, at his mother’s bedside, he realized she had all the power!
As we talked about this, the castration complex naturally came up. Many people suffer from some degree of the castration complex. Notice I said people and not just men. There are phallic women who have their penises in this pot also.
As we explored castration anxiety and it’s relationship to loss of love and power, the image of the Ken doll arose. My friend said he felt like a Ken doll standing there at the foot of the bed – all buffed out and handsome with no genitals.
Most men I know want to hang on to their penis and testicles – so to speak. Few show an interest in discovering and exploring castration anxiety or the castration complex and the issues of love and power around it.
It was an interesting evening sipping wine, watching the sun set on Mt. Diablo and talking Ken, castration and the missing genitalia fear!
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