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The hypothesis of the pre-pubertal non-recognition of the vagina, which Freud never abandoned, crystallised the debate on the feminine in the shadow of a dogma—namely the primacy of the phallus—very early in the history of the psychoanalytic movement. The authors address the emergence in the child of a representation of the penetrable quality of the reality of his or her body. They set out to consider a vaginal sexual component, specifically related to penetration in its passive valency. They put forward the hypothesis that early pregenital experiences give rise to a primary sexual passivity and that this can erotise the passive state associated with primal helplessness (Hilflösigkeit): the ‘aim-inhibited activity’ of female sexuality, which seeks to receive the other inside, provides above all a way of avoiding the agonies of its absence. Finally, the authors undertake to consider this concave drive component as a precursor of the feminine in the child of either sex.