But whereas a woman's image of herself is derived directly from other people, the mirror you're talking about a man's image of himself is derived from the world that is its the world that gives him back his image because he acts in it. and the women are drawn to him as a source, as central activity, and as a source of worth since he is in the world, the fact that he values her is important and so because their centers of narcissism are different, and the woman's is essentially only related to the other person she is in a much more passive position than he is in relation to it yes do you see narcissism as essentially a negative or positive phenomenon? well, i think that is very difficult to answer but in the sense that it is related to an identity, um, it is a positive phenomenon and it seems to me that what women envy in men in that they have a sense of their own identity that there is something in them that is important to them other than simply what other people think of them and I think that thing is product of their interaction in the world and it is almost as if through this interaction they build up a store of worth of their sense of themselves which is a constant it cannot be lost and because a woman doesn't go out and do that she doesn't create a store she waits for the present interaction with a man that can go, that can end at any moment 