The
psychological term coined by Sigmund Freud named after the mythical king of Thebes and the legend based around him. In Greek myth, Oedipus killed his father and married his mother, but without knowledge that either were his parents. Freud's theory proclaimed that, at an unconscious level, a male's
sexual preference would be based around the actions and
personality of his mother. The male child would also feel extreme animosity towards his father, again at an unconscious level. The phenomenon in females is called the Electra Complex.