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In Freudian theory, there is a conceptual gulf between polymorphous child sexuality and what Freud describes elsewhere in more normative fashion as successful ‘genital’ sexuality, femininity and masculinity. The author adopts a psychoanalytical perspective in this theoretical exploration and sets forward a critical reappraisal of the Oedipus complex as a means of challenging the definition of female sexuality – notably, Freud’s initial assumption that vaginal orgasm is feminine whereas clitoral excitability is masculine.