Title: Sigmund Freud Three Essays On the Theory of Sexuality I: The Sexual Aberrations
1Sigmund FreudThree Essays On the Theory of
SexualityI The Sexual Aberrations
2The Sexual Instinct
- A need for sexual union with members of the
opposite sex that exists in virtue of a
biological need for procreation. - The sexual instinct produces desires and drives
that are directed towards specific kinds of
persons (the sexual objects) and manifested in
particular forms of sexual activity (the sexual
aim).
3The Sexual Instinct
- Popular Misconceptions of the Sexual Instinct
- It is absent in childhood.
- It becomes operative at puberty.
- It manifests as an irresistible attraction to its
object. - It has as its aim sexual union with conspecifics
of the opposite sex for the purpose of
procreation.
4Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- Inversion Inverts are attracted to members of
their same sex as sexual objects. - Absolute inverts All of their sexual objects are
members of their own sex. They have no interest,
or a genuine aversion to persons of the opposite
sex as sexual objects.
5Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- Amphigenic inverts (Bisexuals) Members of both
sexes are their normal and usual sexual objects. - Contingent inverts Members of the same sex can
become sexual objects when access to members of
the same sex is unavailable.
6Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- Acceptance
- Some inverts accept their sexual orientation as
just as natural as that of a noninvert. - Others regard their condition as pathological
7Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- Onset and Dynamics
- Inversion can appear very early in childhood (at
least in self-reports). - In other cases it may appear later in personal
development, e.g., at or near puberty. - It can make it first appearance late in life.
- It can be a stage in a developmental processes
that results in noninverted sexuality.
8Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- The Nature of Sexual Inversion
- Inversion as an innate form of sexual degeneracy
- Degeneracy
- Freud obsevers that as a diagnostic category
degeneracy had acquired a broad use that rendered
it nearly useless. - Any mental or behavioral symptoms that seemed not
due to disease or injury were classed as
degenerate syndromes.
9Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- Freud suggests that the diagnosis be limited to
cases where - Several deviations from the normal are found
together, and - These syndromes are severely maladaptive, i. e.,
where ability to function in life and work are
severely compromised.
10Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- So understood, Freud argues that inversion is not
itself a degeneracy. - Inversion is often found in persons who exhibit
no other significant deviation from the normal. - It is found is persons who are quite successful,
educated, and civilized. - It has been manifested around the globe, through
out time, and in primitive peoples and advanced
civilizations at the height of their development.
11Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- Innateness Inversion is inborn
- This hypothesis is offered by its proponents in
opposition to the hypothesis that sexual
inversion is an acquired characteristic. - Freud questions whether these alternatives
exhausts the possible explanations of inversion.
12Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- The Explanation of Inversion
- Inversion and Hermaphroditism
- Perhaps inversion is a residue of an early stage
of human evolution which was characterized by
pervasive psychical and somatic hermaphroditism,
i.e., the presence in one person of the genital
and secondary sex characteristics of both sexes
13Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- But these two appear to be independent factors.
For example, effeminate men are no more likely to
be sexual inverts than hyper-masculine men. - Freud concludes that there is no adequate
explanation of the phenomenon of inversion
available to us today.
14Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- The investigation of inversion sexual objects
shows that the relationship between the sexual
instinct and its object is not fixed or certain.
15Deviations in Respect of Sexual Object
- As Freud puts it, the two appear to be merely
soldered together. - The view of the looseness of this connection
reinforces, because it fits well with, Freuds
proposed explanation of perversions of sexual aim.
16Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- Freuds Method for Explaining the Origin of
Sexual Perversions. - The normal end of sexual arousal is sexual
intercourse. - This activity is the end result of a number
intermediate activities, fixations, touches,
imaginative activities, etc. that produce,
intensify, and direct a variety of intermediate
sexual and nonsexual acts.
17Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- These intermediate activities are usually also
sources of pleasure and gratification. - Therefore, in the normal processes of sexual
arousal the potential for linger over and even
fixating permanently upon some one or more of
these intermediate activities and states of
arousal.
18Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- In the developmental history of each persons
mechanisms of sexual response, there is potential
for these normal patterns to become stalled at an
intermediate point or even redirected towards
different sexual aims.
19Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- All perversions of sexual aim are to be explained
on this model as interruptions and/or
redirections of the normal path of development of
the sexual response.
20Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- Freuds method of explanation, therefore, assumes
that our sexual behavior is learned. - It is not innate.
- It does not just grow itself as basic organ
systems do
21Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- Many of the most important stages of the
development of a mature pattern of sexual
behavior are hidden behind of veil of infantile
amnesia. - As a consequence, we are never the most reliable
source of information about the origins of our
patterns of sexual response
22Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- Anatomical Extensions
- Overvaluation Freud uses this term to refer to a
kind of spreading effect wherein an erotic
response to a body part of a sexual object (such
as the genitals or other erogenous zone) spreads
to include the rest of body and ultimately all of
the person both physical and psychological.
23Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- Sexual use of the lips and mouth
- Use of the lips and mouth is considered (by some)
perverse if it involves contact of these parts
with the genitals of another person. - The typical mark of perversion is a feeling of
disgust at experiencing or witnessing sexual
activity of this kind.
24Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- What is or is not disgusting seems largely
conventional. - Some element of learning is involved in directing
the response towards particular body parts and
particular kinds of activities. - What a person finds disgusting varies over time.
- There is much variation between cultures in what
is found disgusting.
25Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- Sexual use of the anal orifice.
- This is a frequent target of disgust.
- But again, Freud insists, the explanation is
conventional, for the feeling is not due merely
to the function of this body part in excretion. - This is explained more fully in Freuds
discussion of infantile and childhood sexuality
and in his account of the development of
erogenous zones.
26Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- Fetishism
- Here objects unsuited to fulfill the role of the
ultimate sexual aim nevertheless substitute for
its normal objects. - A transitional stage in the development of a
fetish occurs when the object of a persons
erotic interest must display some feature (large
feet, particular style of undergarments,
amputations, etc.) as a precondition of the
successful completion of the sexual aim.
27Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- The situation only becomes pathological when the
longing for the fetish passes beyond the point of
being merely a necessary condition attached to
the sexual object and actually takes the place of
the normal aim, and, further, when the fetish
becomes detached from a particular individual and
becomes the sole sexual object. (p. 20)
28Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- Determination of the fetish object
- Early childhood experience (usually long
forgotten) is a frequent basis of attachment to a
particular kind of object. - In many cases some symbolic connection, the
meaning of which is usually not conscious,
determines the fetish object.
29Deviations in Respect of Sexual Aim
- Sadism and Masochism
- These are common sexual perversions because they
have their basis in the character of normal
sexuality. - Aggressiveness or passivity in response to the
sexual object is quite common. - These perversions often co-occur in the very same
person.
30The Perversions and Psychoanalysis
- Perversion and Pathology
- Perverse should not be a term of reproach
because most normal persons incorporate some
aspect of perversion into their normal sexual
expression. - Perversion is pathological when it replaces
normal sexuality, rather than augmenting it, and
becomes exclusive and fixated.
31The Perversions and Psychoanalysis
- The Conception of the Sexual Instincts.
- The old conception A need for sexual union with
members of the opposite sex that exists in virtue
of a biological need for procreation.
32The Perversions and Psychoanalysis
- The New Conception
- By instinct is provisionally to be understood
the psychical representative of an endosomatic
(inside the body), continuously flowing source of
stimulation, as contrasted with a stimulus,
which is set up by single excitations coming from
without. (p. 34)
33The Perversions and Psychoanalysis
- The source of this stimulation is an organ, or
organ system, within the body. - Instincts are distinguished one from another by
- The organ that is their source, and
- Their aim.
- While their immediate aims differ, all instincts
have the aim of eliminating the stimulation which
is the cause of their manifestation.
34The Perversions and Psychoanalysis
- The organs of sexual tension and excitation are
the erotogenic (or erogenous) zones. - The sexual instincts must overcome the resistance
of feelings of guilt, shame, and fear to fulfill
their sexual end.
35The Perversions and Psychoanalysis
- Neurotic and Hysterical symptoms arise from the
repression of instincts, especially, sexual
instincts. - Repression prevents urges, tensions, hostility,
and fantasies of neurotic life from becoming
aspects of our conscious mental life.
36The Perversions and Psychoanalysis
- Repressed desires,values, and thoughts are
redirected into channels of activity which can be
displayed in public. - Discovering the relation that these symptoms have
to the processes that caused them is the job of
psychoanalysis.
37The Freudian Unconscious
- Some Features of the Unconscious Mind
- It contains beliefs and attitudes that the person
is not aware of holding or adopting. - It has desires and aims that person does not, and
probably would, acknowledge. - It undertakes actions (such as the exhibition of
neurotic symptoms) that the person has not willed.
38The Freudian Unconscious
- It is aware of the beliefs, desires, and
attitudes of the person even though the person is
not aware of its existence or operations. This is
necessary for mechanisms of repression to be
effective. - The more sick the person, the more effective and
comprehensive the influence of the unconscious. - Psychoanalytic therapy can reveal to the person
the existence of the unconscious, it contents,
and its modes of operation.
39The Freudian Unconscious
- How is the Freudian Unconscious Embodied? Some
Possibilities - There are parts of the brain that are
functionally similar to the parts that implement
conscious thought and deliberation, but which are
not accessible by the usual introspective means. - There is no anatomically separated mechanisms of
unconscious thought, memory, or planning. Rather
the unconscious makes offline or downtime use
the regular faculties of thought and planning to
process repressed desires and fantasies.