Three Contributions to the Theory of SexFreud, Sigmund
Science
Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex
Freud, Sigmund
Sex
*Partial Impulses.*--For the rest, the influence of seduction does not
aid us in unravelling the original relations of the sexual impulse, but
rather confuses our understanding of the same, inasmuch as it
prematurely supplies the child with the sexual object at a time when the
infantile sexual impulse does not yet evince any desire for it. We must
admit, however, that the infantile sexual life, though mainly under the
control of erogenous zones, also shows components in which from the very
beginning other persons are regarded as sexual objects. Among these we
have the impulses for looking and showing off, and for cruelty, which
manifest themselves somewhat independently of the erogenous zones and
which only later enter into intimate relationship with the sexual life;
but along with the erogenous sexual activity they are noticeable even in
the infantile years as separate and independent strivings. The little
child is above all shameless, and during its early years it evinces
definite pleasure in displaying its body and especially its sexual
organs. A counterpart to this desire which is to be considered as
perverse, the curiosity to see other persons' genitals, probably appears
first in the later years of childhood when the hindrance of the feeling
of shame has already reached a certain development. Under the influence
of seduction the looking perversion may attain great importance for the
sexual life of the child. Still, from my investigations of the childhood
years of normal and neurotic patients, I must conclude that the impulse
for looking can appear in the child as a spontaneous sexual
manifestation. Small children, whose attention has once been directed to
their own genitals--usually by masturbation--are wont to progress in
this direction without outside interference, and to develop a vivid
interest in the genitals of their playmates. As the occasion for the
gratification of such curiosity is generally afforded during the
gratification of both excrementitious needs, such children become
_voyeurs_ and are zealous spectators at the voiding of urine and feces
of others, After this tendency has been repressed, the curiosity to see
the genitals of others (one's own or those of the other sex) remains as
a tormenting desire which in some neurotic cases furnishes the strongest
motive power for the formation of symptoms.
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