Gender Psychology

In chapter 4 of "Feminist Thought," Tong lays out different psychological theories behind the development of male and female mentality. The first part of this chapter that I found interesting was her statement that psychoanalytic feminists hypothesize that "in a non patriarchal society, masculinity and femininity would be both differently constructed and valued." I thought this was quite an interesting idea to consider. How would our class be altered if we lived in a world dominated by the matriarch instead?
While I was thinking about this idea I was also trying to wrap my head around the Freudian ideas about sexuality. Seeing as I have never taken a psychology class in my life it was interesting to see how Freud applied the story of Oedipus, a story I am very familiar with, to men and women's sexuality. According to Freud, boys and girls both develop a hatred toward the mother either from their inability to have them (in the sexual way) or from competition for affection from the father, respectively. This was a very thought provoking application of the story and although I do not necessarily agree with it I think it is a valid argument to consider when analyzing man and female sexual development.