III: THE TRANSFORMATION OF PUBERTY
With the beginning of puberty the changes set in which transform the
infantile sexual life into its definite normal form. Hitherto the sexual
impulse has been preponderantly autoerotic; it now finds the sexual
object. Thus far it has manifested itself in single impulses and in
erogenous zones seeking a certain pleasure as a single sexual aim. A new
sexual aim now appears for the production of which all partial impulses
coöperate, while the erogenous zones subordinate themselves to the
primacy of the genital zone.[1] As the new sexual
aim assigns very different functions to the two sexes their sexual
developments now part company. The sexual development of the man is more
consistent and easier to understand, while in the woman there even
appears a form of regression. The normality of the sexual life is
guaranteed only by the exact concurrence of the two streams directed to
the sexual object and sexual aim. It is like the piercing of a tunnel
from opposite sides.
The new sexual aim in the man consists in the discharging of the sexual
products; it is not contradictory to the former sexual aim, that of
obtaining pleasure; on the contrary, the highest amount of pleasure is
connected with this final act in the sexual process. The sexual impulse
now enters into the service of the function of propagation; it becomes,
so to say, altruistic. If this transformation is to succeed its process
must be adjusted to the original dispositions and all the peculiarities
of the impulses.
Just as on every other occasion where new connections and
compositions are to be formed in complicated mechanisms, here, too,
there is a possibility for morbid disturbance if the new order of things
does not get itself established. All morbid disturbances of the sexual
life may justly be considered as inhibitions of development.
THE PRIMACY OF THE GENITAL ZONES AND THE FORE-PLEASURE
From the course of development as described we can clearly see the issue
and the end aim. The intermediary transitions are still quite obscure
and many a riddle will have to be solved in them.
The most striking process of puberty has been selected as its most
characteristic; it is the manifest growth of the external genitals which
have shown a relative inhibition of growth during the latency period of
childhood. Simultaneously the inner genitals develop to such an extent
as to be able to furnish sexual products or to receive them for the
purpose of forming a new living being. A most complicated apparatus is
thus formed which waits to be claimed.
This apparatus can be set in motion by stimuli, and observation teaches
that the stimuli can affect it in three ways: from the outer world
through the familiar erogenous zones; from the inner organic world by
ways still to be investigated; and from the psychic life, which merely
represents a depository of external impressions and a receptacle of
inner excitations. The same result follows in all three cases, namely, a
state which can be designated as "sexual excitation" and which manifests
itself in psychic and somatic signs. The psychic sign consists in a
peculiar feeling of tension of a most urgent character, and among the
manifold somatic signs the many changes in the genitals stand first.
They have a definite meaning, that of readiness; they constitute a
preparation for the sexual act (the erection of the penis and the
glandular activity of the vagina).
The Sexual Tension—The character of the tension of
sexual excitation is connected with a problem the solution of which is
as difficult as it would be important for the conception of the sexual
process. Despite all divergence of opinion regarding it in psychology, I
must firmly maintain that a feeling of tension must carry with it the
character of displeasure. For me it is conclusive that such a feeling
carries with it the impulse to alter the psychic situation, and acts
incitingly, which is quite contrary to the nature of perceived pleasure.
But if we ascribe the tension of the sexual excitation to the feelings
of displeasure we encounter the fact that it is undoubtedly pleasurably
perceived. The tension produced by sexual excitation is everywhere
accompanied by pleasure; even in the preparatory changes of the genitals
there is a distinct feeling of satisfaction. What relation is there
between this unpleasant tension and this feeling of pleasure?
Everything relating to the problem of pleasure and pain touches one of
the weakest spots of present-day psychology. We shall try if possible to
learn something from the determinations of the case in question and to
avoid encroaching on the problem as a whole. Let us first glance at the
manner in which the erogenous zones adjust themselves to the new order
of things. An important rôle devolves upon them in the preparation of
the sexual excitation. The eye which is very remote from the sexual
object is most often in position, during the relations of object wooing,
to become attracted by that particular quality of excitation, the motive
of which we designate as beauty in the sexual object. The excellencies
of the sexual object are therefore also called "attractions." This
attraction is on the one hand already connected with pleasure, and on
the other hand it either results in an increase of the sexual excitation
or in an evocation of the same where it is still wanting. The effect is
the same if the excitation of another erogenous zone, e.g., the
touching hand, is added to it. There is on the one hand the feeling of
pleasure which soon becomes enhanced by the pleasure
from the preparatory changes, and on the other hand there is a further
increase of the sexual tension which soon changes into a most distinct
feeling of displeasure if it cannot proceed to more pleasure. Another
case will perhaps be clearer; let us, for example, take the case where
an erogenous zone, like a woman's breast, is excited by touching in a
person who is not sexually excited at the time. This touching in itself
evokes a feeling of pleasure, but it is also best adapted to awaken
sexual excitement which demands still more pleasure. How it happens that
the perceived pleasure evokes the desire for greater pleasure, that is
the real problem.
Fore-pleasure Mechanism.—But the rôle which devolves upon the
erogenous zones is clear. What applies to one applies to all. They are
all utilized to furnish a certain amount of pleasure through their own
proper excitation, which increases the tension, and which is in turn
destined to produce the necessary motor energy in order to bring to a
conclusion the sexual act. The last part but one of this act is again a
suitable excitation of an erogenous zone; i.e., the genital zone
proper of the glans penis is excited by the object most fit for it, the
mucous membrane of the vagina, and through the pleasure furnished by
this excitation it now produces reflexly the motor energy which conveys
to the surface the sexual substance. This last pleasure is highest in
its intensity, and differs from the earliest ones in its mechanism. It
is altogether produced through discharge, it is altogether gratification
pleasure and the tension of the libido temporarily dies away with it.
It does not seem to me unjustified to fix by name the distinction in the
nature of these pleasures, the one through the excitation of the
erogenous zones, and the other through the discharge of the sexual
substance. In contradistinction to the end-pleasure, or pleasure of
gratification of sexual activity, we can properly
designate the first as fore-pleasure. The fore-pleasure is then the
same as that furnished by the infantile sexual impulse, though on a
reduced scale; while the end-pleasure is new and is probably connected
with determinations which first appear at puberty. The formula for the
new function of the erogenous zones reads as follows: they are utilized
for the purpose of making possible the production of the greater
pleasure of gratification by means of the fore-pleasure which is gained
from them as in infantile life.
I have recently been able to elucidate another example from a quite
different realm of the psychic life, in which likewise a greater feeling
of pleasure is achieved by means of a lesser feeling of pleasure which
thereby acts as an alluring premium. We had there also the opportunity
of entering more deeply into the nature of pleasure.[2]
Dangers of the Fore-pleasure.—However the connection of fore-pleasure
with the infantile life is strengthened by the pathogenic rôle which may
devolve upon it. In the mechanism through which the fore-pleasure is
expressed there exists an obvious danger to the attainment of the normal
sexual aim. This occurs if it happens that there is too much
fore-pleasure and too little tension in any part of the preparatory
sexual process. The motive power for the further continuation of the
sexual process then escapes, the whole road becomes shortened, and the
preparatory action in question takes the place of the normal sexual aim.
Experience shows that such a hurtful condition is determined by the fact
that the erogenous zone concerned or the corresponding partial impulse
has already contributed an unusual amount of pleasure in infantile life.
If other factors favoring fixation are added a compulsion readily
results for the later life which prevents the
fore-pleasure from arranging itself into a new combination. Indeed, the
mechanism of many perversions is of such a nature; they merely represent
a lingering at a preparatory act of the sexual process.
The failure of the function of the sexual mechanism through the fault of
the fore-pleasure is generally avoided if the primacy of the genital
zones has also already been sketched out in infantile life. The
preparations of the second half of childhood (from the eighth year to
puberty) really seem to favor this. During these years the genital zones
behave almost as at the age of maturity; they are the seat of exciting
sensations and of preparatory changes if any kind of pleasure is
experienced through the gratification of other erogenous zones; although
this effect remains aimless, i.e., it contributes nothing towards the
continuation of the sexual process. Besides the pleasure of
gratification a certain amount of sexual tension appears even in
infancy, though it is less constant and less abundant. We can now
understand also why in the discussion of the sources of sexuality we had
a perfectly good reason for saying that the process in question acts as
sexual gratification as well as sexual excitement. We note that on our
way towards the truth we have at first enormously exaggerated the
distinctions between the infantile and the mature sexual life, and we
therefore supplement what has been said with a correction. The infantile
manifestations of sexuality determine not only the deviations from the
normal sexual life but also the normal formations of the same.
THE PROBLEM OF SEXUAL EXCITEMENT
It remains entirely unexplained whence the sexual tension comes which
originates simultaneously with the gratification of erogenous zones and
what is its nature. The obvious supposition that this tension originates
in some way from the pleasure itself is not only improbable in itself
but untenable, inasmuch as during the greatest pleasure which is
connected with the voiding of sexual substance there is no production of
tension but rather a removal of all tension. Hence, pleasure and sexual
tension can be only indirectly connected.
The Rôle of the Sexual Substance.—Aside from the fact that only the
discharge of the sexual substance can normally put an end to the sexual
excitement, there are other essential facts which bring the sexual
tension into relation with the sexual products. In a life of continence
the sexual activity is wont to discharge the sexual substance at night
during pleasurable dream hallucinations of a sexual act, this discharge
coming at changing but not at entirely capricious intervals; and the
following interpretation of this process—the nocturnal pollution—can
hardly be rejected, viz., that the sexual tension which brings about a
substitute for the sexual act by the short hallucinatory road is a
function of the accumulated semen in the reservoirs for the sexual
products. Experiences with the exhaustibility of the sexual mechanism
speak for the same thing. Where there is no stock of semen it is not
only impossible to accomplish the sexual act, but there is also a lack
of excitability in the erogenous zones, the suitable excitation of which
can evoke no pleasure. We thus discover incidentally that a certain
amount of sexual tension is itself necessary for the excitability of the
erogenous zones.
One would thus be forced to the assumption, which if I am not mistaken
is quite generally adopted, that the accumulation of sexual substance
produces and maintains the sexual tension. The pressure of these
products on the walls of their receptacles acts as an excitant on the
spinal center, the state of which is then perceived by the higher
centers which then produce in consciousness the familiar feeling of
tension. If the excitation of erogenous zones increases the sexual
tension, it can only be due to the fact that the erogenous zones are
connected with these centers by previously formed anatomical
connections. They increase there the tone of the
excitation, and with sufficient sexual tension they set in motion the
sexual act, and with insufficient tension they merely stimulate a
production of the sexual substance.
The weakness of the theory which one finds adopted, e.g., in v.
Krafft-Ebing's description of the sexual process, lies in the fact that
it has been formed for the sexual activity of the mature man and pays
too little heed to three kinds of relations which should also have been
elucidated. We refer to the relations as found in the child, in the
woman, and in the castrated male. In none of the three cases can we
speak of an accumulation of sexual products in the same sense as in the
man, which naturally renders difficult the general application of this
scheme; still it may be admitted without any further ado that ways can
be found to justify the subordination of even these cases. Nevertheless
one should be cautious about burdening the factor of accumulation of
sexual products with actions which it seems incapable of supporting.
Overestimation of the Internal Genitals.—That sexual excitement can
be independent to a considerable extent of the production of sexual
substance seems to be shown by observations on castrated males, in whom
the libido sometimes escapes the injury caused by the operation,
although the opposite behavior, which is really the motive for the
operation, is usually the rule. It is therefore not at all surprising,
as C. Rieger puts it, that the loss of the male germ glands in maturer
age should exert no new influence on the psychic life of the individual.
The germ glands are really not the sexuality, and the experience with
castrated males only verifies what we had long before learned from the
removal of the ovaries, namely that it is impossible to do away with the
sexual character by removing the germ glands. To be sure, castration
performed at a tender age, before puberty, comes nearer to this aim, but
it would seem in this case that besides the loss of the sexual glands we
must also consider the inhibition of development and
other factors which are connected with that loss.
Chemical Theories.—The truth remains, however, that we are unable to
give any information about the nature of the sexual excitement for the
reason that we do not know with what organ or organs sexuality is
connected, since we have seen that the sexual glands have been
overestimated in this significance. Since surprising discoveries have
taught us the important rôle of the thyroid gland in sexuality, we may
assume that the knowledge of the essential factors of sexuality are
still withheld from us. One who feels the need of filling up the large
gap in our knowledge with a preliminary assumption may formulate for
himself the following theory based on the active substances found in the
thyroid. Through the appropriate excitement of erogenous zones, as well
as through other conditions under which sexual excitement originates, a
material which is universally distributed in the organism becomes
disintegrated, the decomposing products of which supply a specific
stimulus to the organs of reproduction or to the spinal center connected
with them. Such a transformation of a toxic stimulus in a particular
organic stimulus we are already familiar with from other toxic products
introduced into the body from without. To treat, if only hypothetically,
the complexities of the pure toxic and the physiologic stimulations
which result in the sexual processes is not now our appropriate task. To
be sure, I attach no value to this special assumption and I shall be
quite ready to give it up in favor of another, provided its original
character, the emphasis on the sexual chemism, were preserved. For this
apparently arbitrary statement is supported by a fact which, though
little heeded, is most noteworthy. The neuroses which can be traced only
to disturbances of the sexual life show the greatest clinical
resemblance to the phenomena of intoxication and abstinence which result
from the habitual introduction of pleasure-producing poisonous
substances (alkaloids.)
THE THEORY OF THE LIBIDO
These assumptions concerning the chemical basis of the sexual excitement
are in full accord with the auxiliary conception which we formed for the
purpose of mastering the psychic manifestations of the sexual life. We
have determined the concept of libido as that of a force of variable
quantity which has the capacity of measuring processes and
transformations in the spheres of sexual excitement. This libido we
distinguished from the energy which is to be generally adjudged to the
psychic processes with reference to its special origin and thus we
attribute to it also a qualitative character. In separating libidinous
from other psychic energy we give expression to the assumption that the
sexual processes of the organism are differentiated from the nutritional
processes through a special chemism. The analyses of perversions and
psychoneuroses have taught us that this sexual excitement is furnished
not only from the so-called sexual parts alone but from all organs of
the body. We thus formulate for ourselves the concept of a
libido-quantum whose psychic representative we designate as the
ego-libido; the production, increase, distribution and displacement of
this ego-libido will offer the possible explanation for the observed
psycho-sexual phenomena.
But this ego-libido becomes conveniently accessible to psychoanalytic
study only when the psychic energy is employed on sexual objects, that
is when it becomes object libido. Then we see it as it concentrates and
fixes itself on objects, or as it leaves those objects and passes over
to others from which positions it directs the individual's sexual
activity, that is, it leads to partial and temporary extinction of the
libido. Psychoanalysis of the so-called transference neuroses (hysteria
and compulsion neurosis) offers us here a reliable insight.
Concerning the fates of the object libido we also state that it is
withdrawn from the object, that it is preserved floating in special
states of tension and is finally taken back into the ego, so that it again becomes ego-libido. In
contradistinction to the object-libido we also call the ego-libido
narcissistic libido. From psychoanalysis we look over the boundary which
we are not permitted to pass into the activity of the narcissistic
libido and thus form an idea of the relations between the two. The
narcissistic or ego-libido appears to us as the great reservoir from
which the energy for the investment of the object is sent out and into
which it is drawn back again, while the narcissistic libido investment
of the ego appears to us as the realized primitive state in the first
childhood, which only becomes hidden by the later emissions of the
libido, and is retained at the bottom behind them.
The task of a theory of libido of neurotic and psychotic disturbances
would have for its object to express in terms of the libido-economy all
observed phenomena and disclosed processes. It is easy to divine that
the greater significance would attach thereby to the destinies of the
ego-libido, especially where it would be the question of explaining the
deeper psychotic disturbances. The difficulty then lies in the fact that
the means of our investigation, psychoanalysis, at present gives us
definite information only concerning the transformation of the
object-libido, but cannot distinguish without further study the
ego-libido from the other effective energies in the ego.[3]
DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN
It is known that the sharp differentiation of the male and female
character originates at puberty, and it is the resulting difference
which, more than any other factor, decisively influences the later
development of personality. To be sure, the male and female dispositions
are easily recognizable even in infantile life; thus the development of
sexual inhibitions (shame, loathing, sympathy, etc.) ensues earlier and
with less resistance in the little girl than in the little boy. The
tendency to sexual repression certainly seems much
greater, and where partial impulses of sexuality are noticed they show a
preference for the passive form. But, the autoerotic activity of the
erogenous zones is the same in both sexes, and it is this agreement that
removes the possibility of a sex differentiation in childhood as it
appears after puberty. In respect to the autoerotic and masturbatic
sexual manifestations, it may be asserted that the sexuality of the
little girl has entirely a male character. Indeed, if one could give a
more definite content to the terms "masculine and feminine," one might
advance the opinion that the libido is regularly and lawfully of a
masculine nature, whether in the man or in the woman; and if we consider
its object, this may be either the man or the woman.[4]
Since becoming acquainted with the aspect of bisexuality I hold this
factor as here decisive, and I believe that without taking into account the factor of bisexuality it will hardly be
possible to understand the actually observed sexual manifestations in
man and woman.
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
While the primacy of the genital zones is being established through the
processes of puberty, and the erected penis in the man imperiously
points towards the new sexual aim, i.e., towards the penetration of a
cavity which excites the genital zone, the object-finding, for which
also preparations have been made since early childhood, becomes
consummated on the psychic side. While the very incipient sexual
gratifications are still connected with the taking of nourishment, the
sexual impulse has a sexual object outside its own body in his mother's
breast. This object it loses later, perhaps at the very time when it
becomes possible for the child to form a general picture of the person
to whom the organ granting him the gratification belongs. The sexual
impulse later regularly becomes autoerotic, and only after overcoming
the latency period is there a resumption of the original relation. It is
not without good reason that the suckling of the child
at its mother's breast has become a model for every amour. The
object-finding is really a re-finding.[5]
The Sexual Object of the Nursing Period.—However, even after the
separation of the sexual activity from the taking of nourishment, there
still remains from this first and most important of all sexual relations
an important share, which prepares the object selection and assists in
reestablishing the lost happiness. Throughout the latency period the
child learns to love other persons who assist it in its helplessness and
gratify its wants; all this follows the model and is a continuation of
the child's infantile relations to his wet nurse. One may perhaps
hesitate to identify the tender feelings and esteem of the child for his
foster-parents with sexual love; I believe, however, that a more
thorough psychological investigation will establish this identity beyond
any doubt. The intercourse between the child and its foster-parents is
for the former an inexhaustible source of sexual excitation and
gratification of erogenous zones, especially since the parents—or as a
rule the mother—supplies the child with feelings which originate from
her own sexual life; she pats it, kisses it, and rocks it, plainly
taking it as a substitute for a full-valued sexual object.[6] The mother would probably be terrified if it were
explained to her that all her tenderness awakens the sexual impulse of
her child and prepares its future intensity. She considers her actions
as asexually "pure" love, for she carefully avoids causing more
irritation to the genitals of the child than is indispensable in caring
for the body. But as we know the sexual impulse is not awakened by the
excitation of genital zones alone. What we call
tenderness will some day surely manifest its influence on the genital
zones also. If the mother better understood the high significance of the
sexual impulse for the whole psychic life and for all ethical and
psychic activities, the enlightenment would spare her all reproaches. By
teaching the child to love she only fulfills her function; for the child
should become a fit man with energetic sexual needs, and accomplish in
life all that the impulse urges the man to do. Of course, too much
parental tenderness becomes harmful because it accelerates the sexual
maturity, and also because it "spoils" the child and makes it unfit to
temporarily renounce love or be satisfied with a smaller amount of love
in later life. One of the surest premonitions of later nervousness is
the fact that the child shows itself insatiable in its demands for
parental tenderness; on the other hand, neuropathic parents, who usually
display a boundless tenderness, often with their caressing awaken in the
child a disposition for neurotic diseases. This example at least shows
that neuropathic parents have nearer ways than inheritance by which they
can transfer their disturbances to their children.
Infantile Fear.—The children themselves behave from their early
childhood as if their attachment to their foster-parents were of the
nature of sexual love. The fear of children is originally nothing but an
expression for the fact that they miss the beloved person. They
therefore meet every stranger with fear, they are afraid of the dark
because they cannot see the beloved person, and are calmed if they can
grasp that person's hand. The effect of childish fears and of the
terrifying stories told by nurses is overestimated if one blames the
latter for producing the fear in children. Children who are predisposed
to fear absorb these stories, which make no impression whatever upon
others; and only such children are predisposed to fear whose sexual
impulse is excessive or prematurely developed, or has become exigent
through pampering. The child behaves here like the adult, that is, it changes its libido into fear when it cannot bring it
to gratification, and the grown-up who becomes neurotic on account of
ungratified libido behaves in his anxiety like a child; he fears when he
is alone, i.e., without a person of whose love he believes himself
sure, and who can calm his fears by means of the most childish
measures.[7]
Incest Barriers.—If the tenderness of the parents for the child has
luckily failed to awaken the sexual impulse of the child prematurely,
i.e., before the physical determinations for puberty appear, and if
that awakening has not gone so far as to cause an unmistakable breaking
through of the psychic excitement into the genital system, it can then
fulfill its task and direct the child at the age of maturity in the
selection of the sexual object. It would, of course, be most natural for
the child to select as the sexual object that person whom it has loved
since childhood with, so to speak, a suppressed libido.[8] But owing to the delay of sexual maturity time has
been gained for the erection beside the sexual inhibitions of the incest
barrier, that moral prescription which explicitly excludes from the
object selection the beloved person of infancy or blood relation. The
observance of this barrier is above all a demand of cultural society
which must guard against the absorption by the family of those interests
which it needs for the production of higher social units. Society,
therefore, uses every means to loosen those family ties in every individual, especially in the boy, which are authoritative
in childhood only.[9]
The object selection, however, is first accomplished in the imagination,
and the sexual life of the maturing youth has hardly any escape except
indulgence in phantasies or ideas which are not destined to be brought
to execution. In the phantasies of all persons the infantile
inclinations, now reënforced by somatic emphasis, reappear, and among
them one finds in regular frequency and in the first place the sexual
feeling of the child for the parents. This has usually already been
differentiated by the sexual attraction, the attraction of the son for
the mother and of the daughter for the father.[10]
Simultaneously with the overcoming and rejection of these distinctly
incestuous phantasies there occurs one of the most important as well as
one of the most painful psychic accomplishments of puberty; it is the
breaking away from the parental authority, through which alone is formed
that opposition between the new and old generations which is so
important for cultural progress. Many persons are detained at each of
the stations in the course of development through which the individual
must pass; and accordingly there are persons who never overcome the
parental authority and never, or very imperfectly, withdraw their
affection from their parents. They are mostly girls, who, to the delight
of their parents, retain their full infantile love far beyond puberty,
and it is instructive to find that in their married life these girls are
incapable of fulfilling their duties to their husbands. They make cold
wives and remain sexually anesthetic. This shows that the apparently non-sexual love for the parents and the sexual love are
nourished from the same source, i.e., that the first merely
corresponds to an infantile fixation of the libido.
The nearer we come to the deeper disturbances of the psychosexual
development the more easily we can recognize the evident significance of
the incestuous object-selection. As a result of sexual rejection there
remains in the unconscious of the psychoneurotic a great part or the
whole of the psychosexual activity for object finding. Girls with an
excessive need for affection and an equal horror for the real demands of
the sexual life experience an uncontrollable temptation on the one hand
to realize in life the ideal of the asexual love and on the other hand
to conceal their libido under an affection which they may manifest
without self reproach; this they do by clinging for life to the
infantile attraction for their parents or brothers or sisters which has
been repressed in puberty. With the help of the symptoms and other
morbid manifestations, psychoanalysis can trace their unconscious
thoughts and translate them into the conscious, and thus easily show to
such persons that they are in love with their consanguinous relations in
the popular meaning of the term. Likewise when a once healthy person
falls sick after an unhappy love affair, the mechanism of the disease
can distinctly be explained as a return of his libido to the persons
preferred in his infancy.
The After Effects of the Infantile Object Selection.—Even those who
have happily eluded the incestuous fixation of their libido have not
completely escaped its influence. It is a distinct echo of this phase of
development that the first serious love of the young man is often for a
mature woman and that of the girl for an older man equipped with
authority—i.e., for persons who can revive in them the picture of the
mother and father. Generally speaking object selection unquestionably
takes place by following more freely these prototypes. The man seeks
above all the memory picture of his mother as it has dominated him since
the beginning of childhood; this is quite consistent
with the fact that the mother, if still living, strives against this,
her renewal, and meets it with hostility. In view of this significance
of the infantile relation to the parents for the later selection of the
sexual object, it is easy to understand that every disturbance of this
infantile relation brings to a head the most serious results for the
sexual life after puberty. Jealousy of the lover, too, never lacks the
infantile sources or at least the infantile reinforcement. Quarrels
between parents and unhappy marital relations between the same determine
the severest predispositions for disturbed sexual development or
neurotic diseases in the children.
The infantile desire for the parents is, to be sure, the most important,
but not the only trace revived in puberty which points the way to the
object selection. Other dispositions of the same origin permit the man,
still supported by his infancy, to develop more than one single sexual
series and to form different determinations for the object
selection.[11]
Prevention of Inversion.—One of the tasks imposed in the object
selection consists in not missing the opposite sex. This, as we know, is
not solved without some difficulty. The first feelings after puberty
often enough go astray, though not with any permanent injury. Dessoir
has called attention to the normality of the enthusiastic friendships
formed by boys and girls with their own sex. The greatest force which
guards against a permanent inversion of the sexual object is surely the
attraction exerted by the opposite sex characters on each other. For
this we can give no explanation in connection with this discussion. This
factor, however, does not in itself suffice to exclude the inversion;
besides this there are surely many other supporting factors. Above all,
there is the authoritative inhibition of society; experience shows that
where the inversion is not considered a crime it fully
corresponds to the sexual inclinations of many persons. Moreover, it may
be assumed that in the man the infantile memories of the mother's
tenderness, as well as that of other females who cared for him as a
child, energetically assist in directing his selection to the woman,
while the early sexual intimidation experienced through the father and
the attitude of rivalry existing between them deflects the boy from the
same sex. Both factors also hold true in the case of the girl whose
sexual activity is under the special care of the mother. This results in
a hostile relation to the same sex which decisively influences the
object selection in the normal sense. The bringing up of boys by male
persons (slaves in the ancient times) seems to favor homosexuality; the
frequency of inversion in the present day nobility is probably explained
by their employment of male servants, and by the scant care that mothers
of that class give to their children. It happens in some hysterics that
one of the parents has disappeared (through death, divorce, or
estrangement), thus permitting the remaining parent to absorb all the
love of the child, and in this way establishing the determinations for
the sex of the person to be selected later as the sexual object; thus a
permanent inversion is made possible.
SUMMARY
It is now time to attempt a summing-up. We have started from the
aberrations of the sexual impulse in reference to its object and aim and
have encountered the question whether these originate from a congenital
predisposition, or whether they are acquired in consequence of
influences from life. The answer to this question was reached through an
examination of the relations of the sexual life of psychoneurotics, a
numerous group not very remote from the normal. This examination has
been made through psychoanalytic investigations. We have thus found that
a tendency to all perversions might be demonstrated in these persons in the form of unconscious forces revealing
themselves as symptom creators and we could say that the neurosis is, as
it were, the negative of the perversion. In view of the now recognized
great diffusion of tendencies to perversion the idea forced itself upon
us that the disposition to perversions is the primitive and universal
disposition of the human sexual impulse, from which the normal sexual
behavior develops in consequence of organic changes and psychic
inhibitions in the course of maturity. We hoped to be able to
demonstrate the original disposition in the infantile life; among the
forces restraining the direction of the sexual impulse we have mentioned
shame, loathing and sympathy, and the social constructions of morality
and authority. We have thus been forced to perceive in every fixed
aberration from the normal sexual life a fragment of inhibited
development and infantilism. The significance of the variations of the
original dispositions had to be put into the foreground, but between
them and the influences of life we had to assume a relation of
coöperation and not of opposition. On the other hand, as the original
disposition must have been a complex one, the sexual impulse itself
appeared to us as something composed of many factors, which in the
perversions becomes separated, as it were, into its components. The
perversions, thus prove themselves to be on the one hand inhibitions,
and on the other dissociations from the normal development. Both
conceptions became united in the assumption that the sexual impulse of
the adult due to the composition of the diverse feelings of the
infantile life became formed into one unit, one striving, with one
single aim.
We also added an explanation for the preponderance of perversive
tendencies in the psychoneurotics by recognizing in these tendencies
collateral fillings of side branches caused by the shifting of the main
river bed through repression, and we then turned our examination to the
sexual life of the infantile period.[12] We found it regrettable that the existence of a sexual life in
infancy has been disputed, and that the sexual manifestations which have
been often observed in children have been described as abnormal
occurrences. It rather seemed to us that the child brings along into the
world germs of sexual activity and that even while taking nourishment it
at the same time also enjoys a sexual gratification which it then seeks
again to procure for itself through the familiar activity of
"thumbsucking." The sexual activity of the child, however, does not
develop in the same measure as its other functions, but merges first
into the so-called latency period from the age of three to the age of
five years. The production of sexual excitation by no means ceases at
this period but continues and furnishes a stock of energy, the greater
part of which is utilized for aims other than sexual; namely, on the one
hand for the delivery of sexual components for social feelings, and on
the other hand (by means of repression and reaction formation) for the
erection of the future sexual barriers. Accordingly, the forces which
are destined to hold the sexual impulse in certain tracks are built up
in infancy at the expense of the greater part of the perverse sexual
feelings and with the assistance of education. Another part of the
infantile sexual manifestations escapes this utilization and may
manifest itself as sexual activity. It can then be discovered that the
sexual excitation of the child flows from diverse sources. Above all
gratifications originate through the adapted sensible excitation of
so-called erogenous zones. For these probably any skin region or sensory
organ may serve; but there are certain distinguished erogenous zones the
excitation of which by certain organic mechanisms is assured from the
beginning. Moreover, sexual excitation originates in the organism, as it were, as a by-product in a great number of processes, as
soon as they attain a certain intensity; this especially takes place in
all strong emotional excitements even if they be of a painful nature.
The excitations from all these sources do not yet unite, but they pursue
their aim individually—this aim consisting merely in the gaining of a
certain pleasure. The sexual impulse of childhood is therefore
objectless or autoerotic.
Still during infancy the erogenous zone of the genitals begins to make
itself noticeable, either by the fact that like any other erogenous zone
it furnishes gratification through a suitable sensible stimulus, or
because in some incomprehensible way the gratification from other
sources causes at the same time the sexual excitement which has a
special connection with the genital zone. We found cause to regret that
a sufficient explanation of the relations between sexual gratification
and sexual excitement, as well as between the activity of the genital
zone and the remaining sources of sexuality, was not to be attained.
We were unable to state what amount of sexual activity in childhood
might be designated as normal to the extent of being incapable of
further development. The character of the sexual manifestation showed
itself to be preponderantly masturbatic. We, moreover, verified from
experience the belief that the external influences of seduction, might
produce premature breaches in the latency period leading as far as the
suppression of the same, and that the sexual impulse of the child really
shows itself to be polymorphous-perverse; furthermore, that every such
premature sexual activity impairs the educability of the child.
Despite the incompleteness of our examinations of the infantile sexual
life we were subsequently forced to attempt to study the serious changes
produced by the appearance of puberty. We selected two of the same as
criteria, namely, the subordination of all other sources of the sexual
feeling to the primacy of the genital zones, and the process of object
finding. Both of them are already developed in
childhood. The first is accomplished through the mechanism of utilizing
the fore-pleasure, whereby all other independent sexual acts which are
connected with pleasure and excitement become preparatory acts for the
new sexual aim, the voiding of the sexual products, the attainment of
which under enormous pleasure puts an end to the sexual feeling. At the
same time we had to consider the differentiation of the sexual nature of
man and woman, and we found that in order to become a woman a new
repression is required which abolishes a piece of infantile masculinity,
and prepares the woman for the change of the leading genital zones.
Lastly, we found the object selection, tracing it through infancy to its
revival in puberty; we also found indications of sexual inclinations on
the part of the child for the parents and foster-parents, which,
however, were turned away from these persons to others resembling them
by the incest barriers which had been erected in the meantime. Let us
finally add that during the transition period of puberty the somatic and
psychic processes of development proceed side by side, but separately,
until with the breaking through of an intense psychic love-stimulus for
the innervation of the genitals, the normally demanded unification of
the erotic function is established.
The Factors Disturbing the Development.—As we have already shown by
different examples, every step on this long road of development may
become a point of fixation and every joint in this complicated structure
may afford opportunity for a dissociation of the sexual impulse. It
still remains for us to review the various inner and outer factors which
disturb the development, and to mention the part of the mechanism
affected by the disturbance emanating from them. The factors which we
mention here in a series cannot, of course, all be in themselves of
equal validity and we must expect to meet with difficulties in the
assigning to the individual factors their due importance.
Constitution and Heredity.—In the first place, we must mention here
the congenital variation of the sexual constitution, upon which the
greatest weight probably falls, but the existence of which, as may be
easily understood, can be established only through its later
manifestations and even then not always with great certainty. We
understand by it a preponderance of one or another of the manifold
sources of the sexual excitement, and we believe that such a difference
of disposition must always come to expression in the final result, even
if it should remain within normal limits. Of course, we can also imagine
certain variations of the original disposition that even without further
aid must necessarily lead to the formation of an abnormal sexual life.
One can call these "degenerative" and consider them as an expression of
hereditary deterioration. In this connection I have to report a
remarkable fact. In more than half of the severe cases of hysteria,
compulsion neuroses, etc., which I have treated by psychotherapy, I have
succeeded in positively demonstrating that their fathers have gone
through an attack of syphilis before marriage; they have either suffered
from tabes or general paresis, or there was a definite history of lues.
I expressly add that the children who were later neurotic showed
absolutely no signs of hereditary lues, so that the abnormal sexual
constitution was to be considered as the last off-shoot of the luetic
heredity. As far as it is now from my thoughts to put down a descent
from syphilitic parents as a regular and indispensable etiological
determination of the neuropathic constitution, I nevertheless maintain
that the coincidence observed by me is not accidental and not without
significance.
The hereditary relations of the positive perverts are not so well known
because they know how to avoid inquiry. Still there is reason to believe
that the same holds true in the perversions as in the neuroses. We often
find perversions and psychoneuroses in the different sexes of the same
family, so distributed that the male
members, or one of them, is a positive pervert, while the females,
following the repressive tendencies of their sex, are negative perverts
or hysterics. This is a good example of the substantial relations
between the two disturbances which I have discovered.
Further Elaboration.—It cannot, however, be maintained that the
structure of the sexual life is rendered finally complete by the
addition of the diverse components of the sexual constitution. On the
contrary, qualifications continue to appear and new possibilities
result, depending upon the fate experienced by the sexual streams
originating from the individual sources. This further elaboration is
evidently the final and decisive one while the constitution described as
uniform may lead to three final issues. If all the dispositions assumed
to be abnormal retain their relative proportion, and are strengthened
with maturity, the ultimate result can only be a perverse sexual life.
The analysis of such abnormally constituted dispositions has not yet
been thoroughly undertaken, but we already know cases that can be
readily explained in the light of these theories. Authors believe, for
example, that a whole series of fixation perversions must necessarily
have had as their basis a congenital weakness of the sexual impulse. The
statement seems to me untenable in this form, but it becomes ingenious
if it refers to a constitutional weakness of one factor in the sexual
impulse, namely, the genital zone, which later in the interests of
propagation accepts as a function the sum of the individual sexual
activities. In this case the summation which is demanded in puberty must
fail and the strongest of the other sexual components continues its
activity as a perversion.[13]
Repression.—Another issue results if in the course of development
certain powerful components experience a repression—which we must carefully note is not a suspension. The excitations
in question are produced as usual but are prevented from attaining their
aim by psychic hindrances, and are driven off into many other paths
until they express themselves in a symptom. The result can be an almost
normal sexual life—usually a limited one—but supplemented by
psychoneurotic disease. It is these cases that become so familiar to us
through the psychoanalytic investigation of neurotics. The sexual life
of such persons begins like that of perverts, a considerable part of
their childhood is filled up with perverse sexual activity which
occasionally extends far beyond the period of maturity, but owing to
inner reasons a repressive change then results—usually before puberty,
but now and then even much later—and from this point on without any
extinction of the old feelings there appears a neurosis instead of a
perversion. One may recall here the saying, "Junge Hure, alte
Betschwester,"—only here youth has turned out to be much too short. The
relieving of the perversion by the neurosis in the life of the same
person, as well as the above mentioned distribution of perversion and
hysteria in different persons of the same family, must be placed side by
side with the fact that the neurosis is the negative of the perversion.
Sublimation.—The third issue in abnormal constitutional dispositions
is made possible by the process of "sublimation," through which the
powerful excitations from individual sources of sexuality are discharged
and utilized in other spheres, so that a considerable increase of
psychic capacity results from an, in itself dangerous, predisposition.
This forms one the sources of artistic activity, and, according as such
sublimation is complete or incomplete, the analysis of the character of
highly gifted, especially of artistically disposed persons, will show
any proportionate, blending between productive ability, perversion, and
neurosis. A sub-species of sublimation is the suppression through
reaction-formation, which, as we have found, begins even in the
latency period of infancy, only to continue throughout
life in favorable cases. What we call the character of a person is
built up to a great extent from the material of sexual excitations; it
is composed of impulses fixed since infancy and won through sublimation,
and of such constructions as are destined to suppress effectually those
perverse feelings which are recognized as useless. The general perverse
sexual disposition of childhood can therefore be esteemed as a source of
a number of our virtues, insofar as it incites their creation through
the formation of reactions.[14]
Accidental Experiences.—All other influences lose in significance
when compared with the sexual discharges, shifts of repressions, and
sublimations; the inner determinations for the last two processes are
totally unknown to us. He who includes repressions and sublimations
among constitutional predispositions, and considers them as the living
manifestations of the same, has surely the right to maintain that the
final structure of the sexual life is above all the result of the
congenital constitution. No intelligent person, however, will dispute
that in such a coöperation of factors there is also room for the
modifying influences of occasional factors derived from experience in
childhood and later on.
It is not easy to estimate the effectiveness of the constitutional and
of the occasional factors in their relation to each other. Theory is
always inclined to overestimate the first while therapeutic practice
renders prominent the significance of the latter. By no means should it
be forgotten that between the two there exists a relation of coöperation
and not of exclusion. The constitutional factor must wait for
experiences which bring it to the surface, while the
occasional needs the support of the constitutional factor in order to
become effective. For the majority of cases one can imagine a so-called
"etiological group" in which the declining intensities of one factor
become balanced by the rise in the others, but there is no reason to
deny the existence of extremes at the ends of the group.
It would be still more in harmony with psychoanalytic investigation if
the experiences of early childhood would get a place of preference among
the occasional factors. The one etiological group then becomes split up
into two which may be designated as the dispositional and the definitive
groups. Constitution and occasional infantile experiences are just as
coöperative in the first as disposition and later traumatic experiences
in the second group. All the factors which injure the sexual development
show their effect in that they produce a regression, or a return to a
former phase of development.
We may now continue with our task of enumerating the factors which have
become known to us as influential for the sexual development, whether
they be active forces or merely manifestations of the same.
Prematurity.—Such a factor is the spontaneous sexual prematurity
which can be definitely demonstrated at least in the etiology of the
neuroses, though in itself it is as little adequate for causation as the
other factors. It manifests itself in a breaking through, shortening, or
suspending of the infantile latency period and becomes a cause of
disturbances inasmuch as it provokes sexual manifestations which, either
on account of the unready state of the sexual inhibitions or because of
the undeveloped state of the genital system, can only carry along the
character of perversions. These tendencies to perversion may either
remain as such, or after the repression sets in they may become motive
powers for neurotic symptoms; at all events, the sexual prematurity
renders difficult the desirable later control of the sexual
impulse by the higher psychic influences, and enhances the
compulsive-like character which even without this prematurity would be
claimed by the psychic representatives of the impulse. Sexual
prematurity often runs parallel with premature intellectual development;
it is found as such in the infantile history of the most distinguished
and most productive individuals, and in such connection it does not seem
to act as pathogenically as when appearing isolated.
Temporal Factors.—Just like prematurity, other factors, which under
the designation of temporal can be added to prematurity, also demand
consideration. It seems to be phylogenetically established in what
sequence the individual impulsive feelings become active, and how long
they can manifest themselves before they succumb to the influence of a
newly appearing active impulse or to a typical repression. But both in
this temporal succession as well as in the duration of the same,
variations seem to occur, which must exercise a definite influence on
the experience. It cannot be a matter of indifference whether a certain
stream appears earlier or later than its counterstream, for the effect
of a repression cannot be made retrogressive; a temporal deviation in
the composition of the components regularly produces a change in the
result. On the other hand impulsive feelings which appear with special
intensity often come to a surprisingly rapid end, as in the case of the
heterosexual attachment of the later manifest homosexuals. The strivings
of childhood which manifest themselves most impetuously do not justify
the fear that they will lastingly dominate the character of the
grown-up; one has as much right to expect that they will disappear in
order to make room for their counterparts. (Harsh masters do not rule
long.) To what one may attribute such temporal confusions of the
processes of development we are hardly able to suggest. A view is opened
here to a deeper phalanx of biological, and perhaps also historical
problems, which we have not yet approached within fighting distance.
Adhesion.—The significance of all premature sexual
manifestations is enhanced by a psychic factor of unknown origin which
at present can be put down only as a psychological preliminary. I
believe that it is the heightened adhesion or fixedness of these
impressions of the sexual life which in later neurotics, as well as in
perverts, must be added for the completion of the other facts; for the
same premature sexual manifestations in other persons cannot impress
themselves deeply enough to repeat themselves compulsively and to
succeed in prescribing the way for the sexual impulse throughout later
life. Perhaps a part of the explanation for this adhesion lies in
another psychic factor which we cannot miss in the causation of the
neuroses, namely, in the preponderance which in the psychic life falls
to the share of memory traces as compared with recent impressions. This
factor is apparently dependent on the intellectual development and grows
with the growth of personal culture. In contrast to this the savage has
been characterized as "the unfortunate child of the moment."[15] Owing to the oppositional relation existing
between culture and the free development of sexuality, the results of
which may be traced far into the formation of our life, the problem how
the sexual life of the child evolves is of very little importance for
the later life in the lower stages of culture and civilization, and of
very great importance in the higher.
Fixation.—The influence of the psychic factors just mentioned favored
the development of the accidentally experienced impulses of the
infantile sexuality. The latter (especially in the form of seductions
through other children or through adults) produce the material which,
with the help of the former, may become fixed as a permanent
disturbance. A considerable number of the deviations from the normal
sexual life observed later have been thus established in neurotics and
perverts from the beginning through the impressions received during the
alleged sexually free period of childhood. The
causation is produced by the responsiveness of the constitution, the
prematurity, the quality of heightened adhesion, and the accidental
excitement of the sexual impulse through outside influence.
The unsatisfactory conclusions which have resulted from this
investigation of the disturbances of the sexual life is due to the fact
that we as yet know too little concerning the biological processes in
which the nature of sexuality consists to form from our isolated
examinations a satisfactory theory for the explanation of either the
normal or the pathological.
Note 1: The differences will be
emphasized in the schematic representation given in the text. To what
extent the infantile sexuality approaches the definitive sexual
organization through its object selection has been discussed before (p. 60).
Note 2: See my work, Wit and its
Relation to the Unconscious, translated by A.A. Brill, Moffat Yard Pub.
Co., New York: "The fore-pleasure gained by the technique of wit is
utilized for the purpose of setting free a greater pleasure by the
removal of inner inhibitions."
Note 3: Cf. Zur Einführung des
Narzismus, Jahrbuch der Psychoanalyse, VI, 1913.
Note 4: It is necessary to make clear that the conceptions
"masculine" and "feminine," whose content seems so unequivocal to the
ordinary meaning, belong to the most confused terms in science and can
be cut up into at least three paths. One uses masculine and feminine at
times in the sense of activity and passivity, again, in the biological
sense, and then also in the sociological sense. The first of these three
meanings is the essential one and the only one utilizable in
psychoanalysis. It agrees with the masculine designation of the libido
in the text above, for the libido is always active even when it is
directed to a passive aim. The second, the biological significance of
masculine and feminine, is the one which permits the clearest
determination. Masculine and feminine are here characterized by the
presence of semen or ovum and through the functions emanating from them.
The activity and its secondary manifestations, like stronger developed
muscles, aggression, a greater intensity of libido, are as a rule
soldered to the biological masculinity but not necessarily connected
with it, for there are species of animals in whom these qualities are
attributed to the female. The third, the sociological meaning, receives
its content through the observation of the actual existing male and
female individuals. The result of this in man is that there is no pure
masculinity or feminity either in the biological or psychological sense.
On the contrary every individual person shows a mixture of his own
biological sex characteristics with the biological traits of the other
sex and a union of activity and passivity; this is the case whether
these psychological characteristic features depend on the biological or
whether they are independent of it.
Note 5: Psychoanalysis teaches
that there are two paths of object-finding; the first is the one
discussed in the text which is guided by the early infantile prototypes.
The second is the narcissistic which seeks its own ego and finds it in
the other. The latter is of particularly great significance for the
pathological outcomes, but does not fit into the connection treated
here.
Note 6: Those to whom this
conception appears "wicked" may read Havelock Ellis's treatise on the
relations between mother and child which expresses almost the same ideas
(The Sexual Impulse, p. 16).
Note 7: For the explanation of the origin of the infantile fear I
am indebted to a three-year-old boy whom I once heard calling from a
dark room: "Aunt, talk to me, I am afraid because it is dark." "How will
that help you," answered the aunt; "you cannot see anyhow." "That's
nothing," answered the child; "if some one talks then it becomes
light."—He was, as we see, not afraid of the darkness but he was afraid
because he missed the person he loved, and he could promise to calm down
as soon as he was assured of her presence.
Note 8: Cf. here what was said on page 83 concerning the object
selection of the child; the "tender stream."
Note 9: The incest barrier
probably belongs to the historical acquisitions of humanity and like
other moral taboos it must be fixed in many individuals through organic
heredity. (Cf. my work, Totem and Taboo, 1913.) Psychoanalytic studies
show, however, how intensively the individual struggles with the incest
temptations during his development and how frequently he puts them into
phantasies and even into reality.
Note 10: Compare the
description concerning the inevitable relation in the Oedipus legend
(The Interpretation of Dreams, p. 222, translated by A.A. Brill, The
Macmillan Co., New York, and Allen & Unwin, London).
Note 11: Innumerable
peculiarities of the human love-life as well as the compulsiveness of
being in love itself can surely only be understood through a reference
to childhood or as an effective remnant of the same.
Note 12: This was true not
only of the "negative" tendencies to perversion appearing in the
neurosis, but also of the so-called positive perversions. The latter are not only to be attributed to the fixation
of the infantile tendencies, but also to regression to these tendencies
owing to the misplacement of other paths of the sexual stream. Hence the
positive perversions are also accessible to psychoanalytic therapy. (Cf.
the works of Sadger, Ferenczi, and Brill.)
Note 13: Here one often sees
that at first a normal sexual stream begins at the age of puberty, but
owing to its inner weakness it breaks down at the first outer hindrance
and then changes from regression, to perverse fixation.
Note 14: That keen observer
of human nature, E. Zola, describes a girl in his book, La Joie de
vivre, who in cheerful self renunciation offers all she has in
possession or expectation, her fortune and her life's hopes to those she
loves without thought of return. The childhood of this girl was
dominated by an insatiable desire for love which whenever she was
depreciated caused her to merge into a fit of cruelty.
Note 15: It is possible that
the heightened adhesion is only the result of a special intensive
somatic sexual manifestation of former years.
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