Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex Part 7

Despite the incompleteness of our examinations of the infantile s.e.xual life we were subsequently forced to attempt to study the serious changes produced by the appearance of p.u.b.erty. We selected two of the same as criteria, namely, the subordination of all other sources of the s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual acts which are connected with pleasure and excitement become preparatory acts for the new s.e.xual aim, the voiding of the s.e.xual products, the attainment of which under enormous pleasure puts an end to the s.e.xual feeling. At the same time we had to consider the differentiation of the s.e.xual 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 p.u.b.erty; we also found indications of s.e.xual 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 p.u.b.erty 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 s.e.xual 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 a.s.signing to the individual factors their due importance.

*Const.i.tution and Heredity.*--In the first place, we must mention here the congenital _variation of the s.e.xual const.i.tution_, 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 s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual const.i.tution 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 const.i.tution, 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 s.e.xes 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 s.e.x, 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 s.e.xual life is rendered finally complete by the addition of the diverse components of the s.e.xual const.i.tution. On the contrary, qualifications continue to appear and new possibilities result, depending upon the fate experienced by the s.e.xual streams originating from the individual sources. This _further elaboration_ is evidently the final and decisive one while the const.i.tution described as uniform may lead to three final issues. If all the dispositions a.s.sumed to be abnormal retain their relative proportion, and are strengthened with maturity, the ultimate result can only be a perverse s.e.xual life.

The a.n.a.lysis of such abnormally const.i.tuted 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 s.e.xual impulse. The statement seems to me untenable in this form, but it becomes ingenious if it refers to a const.i.tutional weakness of one factor in the s.e.xual impulse, namely, the genital zone, which later in the interests of propagation accepts as a function the sum of the individual s.e.xual activities. In this case the summation which is demanded in p.u.b.erty must fail and the strongest of the other s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual life--usually a limited one--but supplemented by psychoneurotic disease.

It is these cases that become so familiar to us through the psychoa.n.a.lytic investigation of neurotics. The s.e.xual life of such persons begins like that of perverts, a considerable part of their childhood is filled up with perverse s.e.xual activity which occasionally extends far beyond the period of maturity, but owing to inner reasons a repressive change then results--usually before p.u.b.erty, 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 const.i.tutional dispositions is made possible by the process of "sublimation," through which the powerful excitations from individual sources of s.e.xuality 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 a.n.a.lysis 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 s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual 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 const.i.tutional predispositions, and considers them as the living manifestations of the same, has surely the right to maintain that the final structure of the s.e.xual life is above all the result of the congenital const.i.tution. No intelligent person, however, will dispute that in such a cooperation 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 const.i.tutional 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 cooperation and not of exclusion. The const.i.tutional factor must wait for experiences which bring it to the surface, while the occasional needs the support of the const.i.tutional 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 psychoa.n.a.lytic 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. Const.i.tution and occasional infantile experiences are just as cooperative in the first as disposition and later traumatic experiences in the second group. All the factors which injure the s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual development, whether they be active forces or merely manifestations of the same.

*Prematurity.*--Such a factor is the spontaneous s.e.xual _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 s.e.xual manifestations which, either on account of the unready state of the s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual prematurity renders difficult the desirable later control of the s.e.xual 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. s.e.xual 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 succ.u.mb 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 heteros.e.xual attachment of the later manifest h.o.m.os.e.xuals. 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 s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual life which in later neurotics, as well as in perverts, must be added for the completion of the other facts; for the same premature s.e.xual manifestations in other persons cannot impress themselves deeply enough to repeat themselves compulsively and to succeed in prescribing the way for the s.e.xual 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 s.e.xuality, the results of which may be traced far into the formation of our life, the problem how the s.e.xual 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 s.e.xuality. 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 s.e.xual life observed later have been thus established in neurotics and perverts from the beginning through the impressions received during the alleged s.e.xually free period of childhood. The causation is produced by the responsiveness of the const.i.tution, the prematurity, the quality of heightened adhesion, and the accidental excitement of the s.e.xual impulse through outside influence.

The unsatisfactory conclusions which have resulted from this investigation of the disturbances of the s.e.xual life is due to the fact that we as yet know too little concerning the biological processes in which the nature of s.e.xuality consists to form from our isolated examinations a satisfactory theory for the explanation of either the normal or the pathological.

[1] The differences will be emphasized in the schematic representation given in the text. To what extent the infantile s.e.xuality approaches the definitive s.e.xual organization through its object selection has been discussed before (p. 60).

[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."

[3] Cf. Zur Einfuhrung des Narzismus, Jahrbuch der Psychoa.n.a.lyse, VI, 1913.

[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 pa.s.sivity, 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 psychoa.n.a.lysis. 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 pa.s.sive 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 s.e.m.e.n 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 s.e.x characteristics with the biological traits of the other s.e.x and a union of activity and pa.s.sivity; this is the case whether these psychological characteristic features depend on the biological or whether they are independent of it.

[5] Psychoa.n.a.lysis 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.

[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 s.e.xual Impulse, p. 16).

[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 a.s.sured of her presence.

[8] Cf. here what was said on page 83 concerning the object selection of the child; the "tender stream."

[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.) Psychoa.n.a.lytic 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.

[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).

[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.

[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 s.e.xual stream. Hence the positive perversions are also accessible to psychoa.n.a.lytic therapy. (Cf.

the works of Sadger, Ferenczi, and Brill.)

[13] Here one often sees that at first a normal s.e.xual stream begins at the age of p.u.b.erty, but owing to its inner weakness it breaks down at the first outer hindrance and then changes from regression, to perverse fixation.

[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.

[15] It is possible that the heightened adhesion is only the result of a special intensive somatic s.e.xual manifestation of former years.