PRIMARY: FredThree Essays on Theory of Sexuality Buckley-P.-1986. 28-62

Sigmund Freud's "Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, I: The Sexual Aberrations" explores the concept of the 'sexual instinct' and its deviations. Here's a detailed summary:

  • Sexual Instinct and Libido: Freud equates the 'sexual instinct' to hunger, using 'libido' as its scientific term. He challenges popular views that consider the sexual instinct as emerging only at puberty and directed solely towards sexual union between opposite sexes.

  • Technical Terms: Introduces 'sexual object' (the person from whom sexual attraction proceeds) and 'sexual aim' (the act toward which the instinct tends).

  • Deviations in Sexual Object (Inversion):

    • Contrary Sexual Feelings: Discusses individuals with 'contrary sexual feelings' or 'inverts' whose sexual objects are of the same sex.

    • Types of Inverts:

      • Absolute Inverts: Exclusively attracted to the same sex.

      • Amphigenic Inverts: Attracted to both sexes.

      • Contingent Inverts: Attracted to the same sex under specific external conditions.

    • Attitudes Toward Inversion: Some inverts accept their orientation naturally, while others feel it as a pathological compulsion.

    • Temporal Variations: Inversion may appear at different times in life, persist, go into abeyance, or oscillate with normal sexual activity.

  • Nature of Inversion:

    • Early Assessments: Initially seen as an innate sign of nervous degeneracy.

    • Degeneracy: Challenges the indiscriminate use of 'degeneracy,' suggesting it should only apply when multiple deviations and impaired functioning occur.

    • Innate vs. Acquired Character:

      • Innate View: Asserts that absolute inverts have always felt this way.

      • Acquired View: Suggests early sexual impressions or external influences lead to inversion.

    • Bisexuality: Discusses the idea of bisexuality, both anatomical and psychical, and its relation to inversion, though a direct connection is not definitively established.

    • Sexual Object of Inverts: Explores whether inverts seek masculine or feminine traits in their sexual objects.

    • Sexual Aim of Inverts: Notes that no single aim applies to all cases of inversion; aims vary.

  • Sexually Immature Persons and Animals as Sexual Objects:

    • Children: Considers choosing children as sexual objects as an aberration, often due to cowardice, impotence, or unavailability of appropriate objects.

    • Animals: Addresses sexual intercourse with animals, noting it is not rare, especially in rural areas.

    • Insanity: States that disturbances of sexual instinct among the insane do not differ significantly from those among the healthy.

    • General Conclusion: The nature and importance of the sexual object often recedes into the background; something else remains essential and constant in the sexual instinct.

  • Deviations in Sexual Aim:

    • Normal Sexual Aim: Defines the normal aim as the union of genitals leading to release and satisfaction.

    • Perversions:

      • Anatomical Extensions: Sexual activities extending beyond the genital regions.

      • Fixations of Preliminary Aims: Lingering over intermediate relations to the sexual object.

  • Anatomical Extensions: Overvaluation of the Sexual Object:

    • Discusses how sexual overvaluation extends to the entire body and psychological attributes of the sexual object.

    • Sexual Use of the Mucous Membrane of Lips and Mouth:

      • Considers the use of the mouth as a sexual organ, distinguishing between normal kissing and perverse acts.

    • Sexual Use of the Anal Orifice:

      • Attributes disgust as the reason for considering anal sex a perversion.

    • Significance of Other Regions of the Body:

      • Notes that certain body regions seem to claim to be treated as genitals.

    • Unsuitable Substitutes for the Sexual Object: Fetishism:

      • Explores fetishism, where a normal sexual object is replaced by an unsuitable object, often linked to early sexual impressions.

  • Fixations of Preliminary Sexual Aims: Appearance of New Aims:

    • Discusses how hindrances to the normal sexual aim lead to new sexual aims.

    • Touching and Looking:

      • Considers touching and visual impressions as sources of libidinal excitation; scopophilia becomes a perversion when restricted, connected with disgust, or supplanting the normal aim.

    • Sadism and Masochism:

      • Defines sadism (inflicting pain) and masochism (receiving pain), noting the aggressive component in male sexuality and the complex factors in masochism.

  • The Perversions in General:

    • Variation and Disease:

      • Argues that most extensions are common in healthy people's sexual lives, making "perversion" an inappropriate term of reproach.

    • Mental Factor in the Perversions:

      • Suggests that even in repulsive perversions, there's a mental idealization of the instinct.

    • Two Conclusions:

      • Highlights the mental forces like shame and disgust that restrain the sexual instinct.

      • Notes that perversions often result from the convergence of multiple motive forces, suggesting the sexual instinct comprises components that separate in perversions.

Psycho-Analysis: Psycho-analytic investigation is employed in the therapeutic procedure introduced by Josef Breuer and myself in 1893 and known at that time as ‘catharsis’.

Sigmund Freud's exploration of infantile sexuality is foundational to understanding the development of gender identity. His theories suggest that children go through various psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital) that shape their sexual and psychological development.

  • Psychosexual Stages:

    • Oral Stage (0-18 months): Focus is on oral pleasures like sucking and biting.

    • Anal Stage (18-36 months): Focus is on bowel and bladder control.

    • Phallic Stage (3-6 years): Key stage for gender identity development; involves the Oedipus complex.

    • Latency Stage (6-puberty): Sexual feelings are dormant.

    • Genital Stage (puberty-adult): Mature sexual interests develop.

  • Oedipus Complex: During the phallic stage, boys develop an unconscious sexual desire for their mother and a sense of rivalry with their father. To resolve this, they repress their feelings, identify with their father, and internalize his values and gender roles. This process is crucial for the development of a boy's gender identity.

  • Electra Complex: Girls experience a similar process but Freud's views on female development are controversial. The Electra complex involves a girl's attraction to her father and a sense of penis envy, which is resolved through identification with the mother, though less completely than in boys.