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Freud’s Model of Sexual Development
1. - 3.: Partial drives of the oral, anal, and phallic stages. 4. Latency period. 5. Genital maturity, expression of a healthy drive: Eros, the life instinct.
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In the early 20th century, Sigmund Freud introduced a model of sexual development that was widely accepted for many years, not only by his fellow psychoanalysts and other academic specialists, but also, in a superficial way, by the general public. Today, Freud’s theories are no longer as popular as before. In fact, most sexologists have quietly abandoned them and now use different models to explain human sexual behavior. Still, for historical reasons it may be useful to summarize at least Freud’s view of childhood sexuality:
Human sexual behavior is the expression of a powerful drive: Eros, the life instinct. This expression develops in several stages: 1. The oral stage. The the infant seeks gratification through the mouth (suckling, putting things in the mouth). 2. The anal stage. The child’s pleasurable sensations are focussed on the anus (eliminating and withholding feces. This is also the period of toilet training). 3. The phallic stage. The child becomes interested in, and derives pleasure from, the sex organs. During this phase, conflicts arise, namely the love for the parent of one own’s sex and hatred of the parent belonging to the other sex (the so-called Oedipus complex in males, the Electra complex in females). Once these conflicts have been resolved in one way or another, the child enters 4. the latency period, during which all sexual desires are repressed. However, they reawaken in full force during puberty, when the young person finally enters 5. the genital stage. The partial drives (oral, anal, and phallic) now find their proper balance. Their successful integration results in “genital maturity”, i.e. the ability to enter into satisfying heterosexual relationships. If, on the other hand, something went wrong in the earlier stages, genital maturity is not achieved, and the person’s sexual expression is impaired.in various possible ways.
This summary is, of course, superficial. Freud’s theories themselves developed in various stages over many years and are more complex than can be explained here. However, as already indicated, sex researchers today no longer pay much attention to them. They also no longer believe in a “sex drive”. Instead, they now prefer to describe sexual behavior as being “scripted”.
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