Like “anal retentive,” “oral fixation,” and “penis envy,” Castration Anxiety has mostly become a joke today. This idea of Sigmund Freud’s has become a reason to dismiss psychoanalytic ideas as antiquated, irrelevant, and even sexist.  

But in this episode, we get a little help from our friend, the Good Witch, Dr. Clarice Kestenbaum, to reclaim and reframe the idea of Castration Anxiety. We see how awareness of this idea can give healing power to doctors, parents and teachers of boys and men. From Ninja Horses to “poison pee” to the little boy in Vienna who started it all, we explore the meaning of the body, and its importance in inner reality. 

We also learn that to work, the magic of psychoanalysis must be wielded with respect for outer reality; the society we live in and the prejudices it carries. We discover that this magic is not just for little boys, but for people of all genders who want to feel “more effective, more connected,” -- and definitely, “more attractive!”