Because men think women are jealous of their penis

One of the most astonishing ideas a man has ever come up with is that women are jealous of his penis. Women, who have never had one of these magical wands, know how good it is to have one, and wish they could make one appear.

Like many ludicrous ideas that have no basis in lucid observation or rationality, but support a certain style of masculine mythology – this idea took off like wildfire. So much so, that it is still prevalent today.

The idea is that men think they are superior because they have a penis, and they think women are inferior because they haven’t – the penis being the one thing that separates a man from a woman. Women wish they had male privilege, therefore they wish they had a penis.

For some reason, it never occurs to men (Freud in particular in this case) that women want privileges based on their existence and their humanity, not to be actually turned into a man. I have never in all my life met a woman who wants to be a man, and with the exception of some brave individuals who feel they need to have corrective surgery, I doubt that I ever will.

But men can’t understand this. They are so thrilled with their penis, so amazed by it, so desperate to compare it with others and so keen for any vague opportunity to show it off, that it is incomprehensible to them that someone who doesn’t have one isn’t desperate for one. They clutch at the thing, eternally grateful for it; for its existence, for its distinguishing features and most of all for its guidance.

For a man, the most important thing about his penis is it means he isn’t a woman. But this logic doesn’t follow if the person, who doesn’t have a penis, isn’t desperate for one. So, despite the fact that no woman actually wants one, they simply say all women do.

In romance novels, the men are thrilled that their women don’t have penises. They are even more thrilled that their women don’t want to grow, develop or steal their own penis. They appreciate the physical difference between men and women and even take advantage of it sexually. They know that women are their own creatures and that they are not defined by lack.