The author considers the contribution of the physical body and its impact on the psyche. She argues that it is not physically being a woman that affects a person’s mind, but it is living in that physical, biological body of the woman constantly creating reactive portraits in the mind, that affects the life women lead. Four main areas are explored: clinical contributions on female development: assessments of past and present psychoanalytic theories in relation to the body: inner portraits of gender building blocks: the potentially procreative female body.