In the context of psychoanalytic theory, the negative Oedipus complex is the inverse of the Oedipus complex in which young boys will desire their mothers and assume their fathers as a direct rival whereas young girls will desire their fathers and assume their mothers a direct rival to their desire. Freud suggested that both the negative Oedipus complex and the (positive) Oedipus complex were paramount in both young boys and young girls during their development.