Three Contributions to the Theory of SexFreud, Sigmund
Science
Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex
Freud, Sigmund
Sex
*The Leading Zones in Man and Woman.*--Further than this I can only add
the following. The chief erogenous zone in the female child is the
clitoris, which is homologous to the male penis. All I have been able to
discover concerning masturbation in little girls concerned the clitoris
and not those other external genitals which are so important for the
later sexual functions. With few exceptions I myself doubt whether the
female child can be seduced to anything but clitoris masturbation. The
frequent spontaneous discharges of sexual excitement in little girls
manifest themselves in a twitching of the clitoris, and its frequent
erections enable the girl to understand correctly even without any
instruction the sexual manifestations of the other sex; they simply
transfer to the boys the sensations of their own sexual processes.
If one wishes to understand how the little girl becomes a woman, he must
follow up the further destinies of this clitoris excitation. Puberty,
which brings to the boy a great advance of libido, distinguishes itself
in the girl by a new wave of repression which especially concerns the
clitoris sexuality. It is a part of the male sexual life that sinks into
repression. The reënforcement of the sexual inhibitions produced in the
woman by the repression of puberty causes a stimulus in the libido of
the man and forces it to increase its capacity; with the height of the
libido there is a rise in the overestimation of the sexual, which can be
present in its full force only when the woman refuses and denies her
sexuality. If the sexual act is finally submitted to and the clitoris
becomes excited its rôle is then to conduct the excitement to the
adjacent female parts, and in this it acts like a chip of pine wood
which is utilized to set fire to the harder wood. It often takes some
time for this transference to be accomplished; during which the young
wife remains anesthetic. This anesthesia may become permanent if the
clitoris zone refuses to give up its excitability; a condition brought
on by abundant activities in infantile life. It is known that anesthesia
in women is often only apparent and local. They are anesthetic at the
vaginal entrance but not at all unexcitable through the clitoris or even
through other zones. Besides these erogenous causes of anesthesia there
are also psychic causes likewise determined by the repression.
If the transference of the erogenous excitability from the clitoris to
the vagina has succeeded, the woman has thus changed her leading zone
for the future sexual activity; the man on the other hand retains his
from childhood. The main determinants for the woman's preference for the
neuroses, especially for hysteria, lie in this change of the leading
zone as well as in the repression of puberty. These determinants are
therefore most intimately connected with the nature of femininity.
THE OBJECT-FINDING
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