SIGMUND FREUD THREE ESSAYS ON THE THEORY OF SEXUALITY NANCY J CHODOROW ay by STEVEN MARCUS Translated and edited b JAMES STRACHEY A Member of the Perseus Books Grou
CONTENTS Foreword by Nancy JChodorow Editorial Note Editor's Note Preface Preface to the Third edition Preface to the Fourth Edition Introductory Essay by Steven Marcus I THE SEXUAL ABERRATIONS I Deviations in Respect of the Sexual Object (A) Inve (B)Sexually Immature Persons and Animals as Sexual Objects 2 Deviations in Res (A)Anatomical Extensions (B) Fixations of Preliminary Sexual Aims 3 The Perversions in General 4 The Sexual Instinct in Neurotics 5 Component Instincts and Erotogenic Zones 6 Reasons for the Apparent Preponderance of Per right G 2000 Nancy J. Chodorow verse Sexuality in the Psychoneuroses Copyright e 1962 Sigmund Freud Copyrights Ltd 7 Intimation of the Infantile Character of Sexuality Introductory Essay copyright e 1975 by Steven Marcus brary of Congress Catalog Card Number: 62-11202 ISBN10:0-46508607-1( cloth) II ISBN13:9780465086078(alth) ISBN10:0465097081( paper) NFANTILE SEXUALITY ISBN3:9780-465097081( paper) The Period of Sexual Latency in Childhood and its Printed in the United States of America EBC0607080920191817161514 2 The Manifestations of Infantile Sexu
THE SEXUAL ABERRATIONS 1 THE fact of the existence of sexual needs in human beings and animals is expressed in biology by the assumption of a'sexual instinct,, on the analogy of the instinct of nutrition, that is of ager. Everyday language possesses no counterpart to the word hunger, but science makes use of the word",for that purpose. 2 Popular opinion has quite definite ideas about the nature ar characteristics of this sexual instinct. It is generally understood to be absent in childhood, to set in at the time of puberty in revealed in the manifestations of an irresistible attraction exer- cised by one sex upon the other; while its aim is presumed to be xual union, or at all events actions leading in that direction We have every reason to believe, however, that these views give a very false picture of the true situation. If we look into them more closely we shall find that they contain a number of errors, inaccuracies and hasty conclusions I shall at this point introduce two technical terms. Let call the person from whom sexual attraction proceeds the sexual i The information contained in this first essay is derived from the Schrenck-Notzing, Lowenfeld, Eulenburg, Bloch and Hirschfeld, and from the ja published under the dire tion of the last-named author. Since full bibliographies of the remaining the subject will be found in th ences. [Added 1910: ]The obtained from the psycho-analytic in gation of inverts are based upon material supplied to me by rd in the gerr
THREE ESSAYS ON SEXUALITY I. THE SEXUAL ABERRATIONS object and the act towards which the instinct tends c) They may be contingent inverts. In that case, under certain aim. Scientifically sifted observation, then, shows that ous deviations occur in respect of both of thesc-thc external conditions---of which inaccessibility of any normal object and the sexual aim. The relation between these devia- sexual object and imitation are the chief--they are capable of taking as their sexual object someone of their own sex and of tions and what is assumed to be normal requires thorough deriving satisfaction from sexual intercourse with him nvestigation Again, inverts vary in their views as to the peculiarity of their sexual instinct. Some of them accept their (1)DEVIATIONS IN RESPECT OF THE SEXUAL OBJECT accepts the direction of his libido, and insist energetically that inversion is as legitimate as the normal attitude, others rebel &i The popular view of the sexual instinct is beautifully re beings against their inversion and feel it as a pathological compulsion,I he poetic fable which tells he Other variations occur which relate to questions of time. The were cut up into two halves--man and woman-and how these trait of inversion may either date back to the very beginning, as are al ways striving to unite again in love. I It comes as a great far back as the subject's memory reaches, or it may not have surprise therefore to learn that there are men whose sexual become noticeable till some particular time before or after It t throughout life or it m bject is a woman and not a man. People of this kind are des- nto temporary abeyance, or again it may constitute an episod on the way to a normal development. It may even make its averts,, and the fact is described as 'inversion The number of rst appearance late in life after a long period of normal sexual activity. A periodic oscillation between a normal and an in in establishing it precisely. 2 verted sexual object has also sometimes been observed. Those (A)INVERSION cases are of particular interest in which the libido changes over to an inverted sexual object after a distressing experience with BEHAVIOUR Such people vary greatly in their behaviour in a normal one As a rule these different kinds of variations are found side by (a)They may be absolute inverts. In that case side independently of one another. It is, however, safe to assum their sexual objects are exclusively of their own sex. Persons of that the most extreme form of inversion will have been present the opposite sex are never the object of their sexual d from a very early age and that the person concerned will feel leave them cold or even arouse sexual aversion in them. as a consequence of this aversion, they are incapable, if they are men Many authorities would be unwilling to class together all of carrying out the sexual act, or else they derive no enjoyment 1 The fact of a person struggling in this way aait "of his being towards inversion may perhaps determine the possibility influenced by suggestion [added 1910: or psycho-an a Many writers have insisted with justice that the dates assigned of their own or of the opposite sex. This kind of inversion thus lacks the char istic of exclusiveness terosexual feelings from their memory. [Added 1910: These suspicions ave been confirmed by psycho topb: This is no doubt an allusion to the theory expounded by Aris. hich it has had access; it has produced decisive: alterations in the o d to this much later at the end of Chapter VI of Beyond the Pleasure Principle(1920 g) 2 On these difficulties and on the attempts which have been made to arrive at the proportional number of inverts, see Hirschfeld ( 1904) investigation of inverts. I
THREE ESSAYS ON SEXUALITY THE UAL ABERRATIONS the various cases which I have enumerated and would prefe to lay stress upon their differences rather than their resem (2)It is similarly found in people whose efficiency is un blances, in accordance with their own preferred view of inver- mpaired, and who are indeed distinguished by specially high sion. Nevertheless, though the distinctions cannot be disputed intellectual development and ethical culture. I it is impossible to overlook the existence of numerous inter (3)If we disregard the patients we come across in our medical mediate examples of every type, so that we are driven to con practice, and cast our eyes round a wider horizon, we shall clude that we are dealing with a connected series ome in two directions upon facts which make it impossible to gard inversion as a sign of degeneracy a) Account must be taken of the fact that NATURE OF The earliest assessments regarded inversion as INVERSION an innate indication of nervous degeneracy. This corresponded to the fact that medical observers charged with important functions-among the first came across it in persons suffering, or appearing to suffer, quity at the height of their civilization from nervous diseases. This characterization of inversion in (6)It is remarkably widespread among many savage and volves two suppositions, which must be considered separately primitive races, whereas the concept of degeneracy is usuall that it is innate and that it is degenerate restricted to states of high civilization(cf. Bloch); and amongst the civilized peoples of Europe, climate and race exercise the most powerful influence on the prevalence of ACY The attribution of degeneracy in this connec- inversion and upon the attitude adopted towards it. 2 tion is open to the objections which can be raised against the indiscriminate use of the word in general. It has become the fashion to regard any symptom which is not NNATE As may be supposed, innateness is only attri obviously due to trauma or infection as a sign of degeneracy HaRaCter buted to the first, most extreme, class of inverts, Magnan's classification of degenerates is indeed of such a kind and the evidence for it rests upon assurances given as not to exclude the possibility of the concept of degeneracy by them that at no time in their lives has their sexual instinct being applied to a nervous system whose general functioning shown any sign of taking another course. The very existence of is excellent. This being so, it may well be asked whether an e two other classes, and especially the third [the"contingent attribution of degeneracy'is of any value or adds anything to inverts], is difficult to reconcile with the hypothesis of the in- our knowledge. It seems wiser nateness of inversion. This explains why those who support this (1)several serious deviations from the normal are found view tend to separate out the group of absolute inverts from all together, and the rest, thus abandoning any attempt at giving an account the capacity for efficient functioning and survival seem of inversion which shall have universal application. In view of these authorities inversion is innate in one to be severely impaired.1 Several facts go to show that in this legitimate sense of the of cases, while in others it may have come about word inverts cannot be regarded as degenerate way (1)Inversion is found in people who exhibit no other serious The reverse of this view is represented by the alternative deviations from the normal one that inversion is an acquired character of the sexual 1 It must be allowed that the spokesmen of'Uranism'arc justified in that sserting that some of the most prominent men in all recorded history The pathological approach to the study of inversion has been dis- nce be clear that there is small value in ever making a diagnosis of change is due to Bloch ( 1902-3), who has also laid stress on the occur rence of inversion among the civilizations of antiquity