Three Contributions to the Theory of SexFreud, Sigmund
Science
Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex
Freud, Sigmund
Sex
As recently as
1906 W. Fliess (Der Ablauf des Lebens) has claimed ownership of the idea
of bisexuality (in the sense of double sex). Psychoanalytic
investigation very strongly opposes the attempt to separate homosexuals
from other persons as a group of a special nature. By also studying
sexual excitations other than the manifestly open ones it discovers that
all men are capable of homosexual object selection and actually
accomplish this in the unconscious. Indeed the attachments of libidinous
feelings to persons of the same sex play no small rôle as factors in
normal psychic life, and as causative factors of disease they play a
greater rôle than those belonging to the opposite sex. According to
psychoanalysis, it rather seems that it is the independence of the
object, selection of the sex of the object, the same free disposal over
male and female objects, as observed in childhood, in primitive states
and in prehistoric times, which forms the origin from which the normal
as well as the inversion types developed, following restrictions in this
or that direction. In the psychoanalytic sense the exclusive sexual
interest of the man for the woman is also a problem requiring an
explanation, and is not something that is self-evident and explainable
on the basis of chemical attraction. The determination as to the
definite sexual behavior does not occur until after puberty and is the
result of a series of as yet not observable factors, some of which are
of a constitutional, while some are of an accidental nature. Certainly
some of these factors can turn out to be so enormous that by their
character they influence the result. In general, however, the
multiplicity of the determining factors is reflected by the manifoldness
of the outcomes in the manifest sexual behavior of the person. In the
inversion types it can be ascertained that they are altogether
controlled by an archaic constitution and by primitive psychic
mechanisms. The importance of the _narcissistic object selection_ and
the _clinging_ to the erotic significance of the _anal_ zone seem to be
their most essential characteristics. But one gains nothing by
separating the most extreme inversion types from the others on the basis
of such constitutional peculiarities. What is found in the latter as
seemingly an adequate determinant can also be demonstrated only in
lesser force in the constitution of transitional types and in manifestly
normal persons. The differences in the results may be of a qualitative
nature, but analysis shows that the differences in the determinants are
only quantitative. As a remarkable factor among the accidental
influences of the object selection, we found the sexual rejection or the
early sexual intimidation, and our attention was also called to the fact
that the existence of both parents plays an important rôle in the
child's life. The disappearance of a strong father in childhood not
infrequently favors the inversion. Finally, one might demand that the
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