Karl Abraham's revolution of 1916: from sensual sucking to the oral-aggressive wish of destruction

The author argues that "The First Pregenital Stage of the Libido" (Abraham 1916-1917) expounds a new conception of orality, i.e., of purposeful oral aggression directed against an object during the first stage of psychic development. This conception is shown to be contrary to Freud's view of orality as elaborated in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), as well as in other writings of late 1914 and 1915. Abraham's conception ignores fundamental dimensions of Freud's thinking during these years, namely, the difference between autoerotism/narcissism and object love, on the one hand, and also between the leading role of sexuality and the secondary role of aggression, on the other. Thus, Abraham's thinking represents a basic theoretical change that had far-reaching consequences for psychoanalytic practice.     

Infantile sexuality and Freud's legacy

The topic of sexuality and infantile sexuality, though less frequently discussed by psychoanalysis in recent decades, has received renewed attention for some years. The intention of this paper is to share some reflections around the role of infantile sexuality in our thinking, how we encounter it in our work with patients and in clinical material. Through reference to questions put forward by Freud (1905) in Three Essays, this paper takes into consideration some areas of the debate that has developed on the subject of infantile sexuality, starting from Freud's original intuition, including various hypotheses on the genesis of the sexual drive. The author will concentrate on two specific points. Firstly, how infantile sexuality – as a permanent dimension of the subject's existence – unfolds in the relationship and is deeply influenced by it. And that is how in childhood and adolescence, infantile sexuality ushers in parental sexuality – just as, in the case of our patients, infantile sexuality ushers in the analyst's sexuality. The second point pertains to the temporal dimension within which infantile sexuality is inscribed. The hypothesis that the author proposes is that infantile sexuality may be understood in the specific time of psychoanalysis [Nachträglichkeit], distinct and different with respect to the linear, evolutionary dimension.     

Understanding Freud's conflicted view of the object‐relatedness of sexuality and its implications for contemporary psychoanalysis: A re‐examination of Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality

Through a re‐examination of Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), this paper reveals a fundamental tension in Freud's thinking on the nature of the individual and of his sexuality. In this text Freud portrays the individual and sexuality as inherently object‐related and at the same time as inherently independent of such relatedness. The way in which Freud presents these contradictory ideas suggests that he was not merely undecided on object‐relatedness and sexuality but rather that the contradiction was integral to this thinking. The paper offers an explanation of the meaning of this contradiction, of why it has been neglected in the analytic literature, and of some implications for contemporary psychoanalysis and its approach to sexuality.     

Freud's great voyage of discovery

The author discusses some of Freud's most significant contributions: the psychoanalytic method, called free association by Freud; the discovery that symptoms have a meaning and that every symptom is a compromise formation; the interpretation of dreams; psychic determinism; the central role of infantile sexuality; and sublimation. Included is a brief review of the views of some noteworthy analysts, all of whom agree in ignoring the importance of infantile sexuality and/or in minimizing its importance.     

The relevance of castration and circumcision to the origins of psychoanalysis: 1. The medical context1

In this paper the author outlines and discusses the origins and the decline of castration and circumcision as a cure for the nervous and psychic disturbances in women and little girls between 1875 and 1905. The author argues that the opposition to this medical practice affected the conception of hysteria, promoting a distinction between sexuality and the genital organs, and the emergence of an enlarged notion of sexuality, during the period from Freud’s medical education to the publication of the Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. The hypothesis is put forward that Freud came directly in contact with the genital theory of the neurosis at the time of his training on the nervous disturbances in children with the paediatrician, Adolf Baginsky, in Berlin, in March 1886. It is hypothesized that this experience provoked in Freud an abhorrence of circumcision ‘as a cure or punishment for masturbation’, prompting an inner confrontation which resulted in a radical reorganization of the way of thinking about sexuality. It is also suggested that this contributed to Freud developing a capacity to stay with contradictions, something which would become a central quality of the psychoanalytic attitude.     

PHILOSOPHY, SEXUALITY AND GENDER: MUTUAL INTERROGATIONS

These three papers present a quite diverse and complementary set of answers to the question, "Why Sexuality Matters to Philosophy." They show the ways in which sexuality as an issue may be of interest to philosophers working on a wide range of questions. The theme of sexuality appears as both subject matter and context for the development of scientific theories of human behavior, as a pervasive dimension of the representation of everyday life, and as a social phenomenon raising important questions bearing on the implications of equal citizenship for persons of different genders and sexualities. Sexuality reveals itself as implicated in epistemology and philosophy of science, aesthetics and ethics, political philosophy and jurisprudence. Sexuality as a subject matter provides rich examples for extending the treatment of quite traditional problems. At the same time, by identifying sexuality as a fundamental human phenomenon, fraught with normative implications and closely linked to emotional and bodily life, these papers show how thinking about sexuality may also act to unsettle and redefine certain important areas of philosophical inquiry.     

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR! THE SURRENDER OF GENDER

Close examination of Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905a) reveals an ambiguity in Freud's language as he simultaneously tries to escape 19th‐century psychiatric paradigms concerning sexuality and perversion while also retaining a normative approach to adult sexuality that created new categories of pathology. The result is an ambivalent legacy that has both hampered and helped contemporary clinicians as they deal with a diverse array of presentations of gender and sexual orientation in today's world.     

Cognitive beliefs about male sexuality: The impact of gender roles and counselor perspectives

Two studies are presented which examine stereotypie beliefs about males and their sexuality through the use of the Stereotypes About Male Sexuality Scale (SAMSS). In the first study, the relationship between the SAMSS and two gender role measures were examined. The results revealed that the restrictive emotionality aspect of the masculine role was strongly associated with stereotypic beliefs about male sexuality. Other gender role preferences and behaviors were also found to be positively associated with conventional performance approaches to male sexuality. In the second investigation, counseling trainees were asked to describe how mentally healthy adult men and women would respond to the Stereotypes About Male Sexuality Scale. The responses of both male and female intraining counselors indicated that they expected mentally healthy males: (a) to reject inhibited, control, and constant readiness approaches to the expression of male sexuality and (b) to express greater disagreement toward defining male sexuality exclusively in terms of sexual intercourse and toward viewing males as inherently knowledgeable about sex. These results thus provide evidence for the importance of the SAMSS and a cognitive approach to the study of male sexuality.William E. Snell, Jr., Ph.D. is an assistant professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts at Southeast Missouri State University. Sharyn S. Belk is a Ph.D. candidate in social-personality psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Raymond C. Hawkins II, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist at the Austin Regional Clinic in Austin, Texas.Portions of these data were presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, and at the XXIII International Congress of Psychology, Acapulco, Mexico.     

Has infantile sexuality anything to do with infants?

Classical psychoanalytic theory draws many concepts from mental processes that are assumed to arise in the infant and influence the adult mind. Still, psychoanalytic practice with mothers and infants has been integrated but little within general psychoanalytic theory. One reason is that only few analysts have utilized such practice to further theory. Another reason is that infant therapists tend to abandon classical psychoanalytic concepts in favour of attachment concepts. As a result the concept of infantile sexuality, so central to classical theory, plays an unobtrusive role in clinical discussions on infant therapy. The author argues that infantile sexuality plays an important role in many mother-infant disturbances. To function as a clinical concept, it needs to be delineated from attachment and be understood in the context of mother-infant interaction. Two examples are provided; one where the analyst's infantile sexuality emerged in a comment to the infant. Another is a case of breast-feeding problems with a little boy fretting at the breast. This is interpreted as reflecting the mother's infantile sexual conflicts as well as the boy's emerging internalization of them. Thus, to conceptualize such disorders we need to take into account the infantile sexuality in both mother and baby.     

Space and time in psychoanalytic listening1

The analytic situation is by definition traumatic because it evokes hilflosigkeit, the state of helplessness of the newborn infant, which is the prototype of the traumatic situation, and at the origin of the experience of anxiety. The author addresses the chain of associations between the state of helplessness, repetition compulsion, trauma, infantile sexuality, pleasure and displeasure, which lie at the core of the transference experience, and which find their ultimate expression in the analyst's listening. The discovery of the compulsion to repeat instituted a paradigmatic shift in Freud's formulations, emphasizing the process of repetition of trauma, and instituting a link between the network of concepts indicated above. In the clinical example discussed, the author defines the psychoanalytic process by the primacy of sexuality, the erotic passivation in the transference that evokes the traumatic childhood sexual scene. Sexuality and sexual phantasies are at the centre of the elaboration of meaning. Furthermore, the author distinguishes between two types of interpretations, namely ‘open’ and ‘closed’.     

SEXUAL ABERRATION OR INSTINCTUAL VICISSITUDE? REVISITING FREUD'S “THE SEXUAL ABERRATIONS”

The author reconsiders Freud's “The Sexual Aberrations,” the first of his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), in light of contemporary psychoanalytic theory. Are the concepts of sexual aberration and norm still viable? The author argues that they are necessary but insufficient elements in current theory. He then presents a competing model in which sexuality can be reduced to a more elemental level of disturbance and wish, where it is an expression of a nonsexual wish—for example, to possess or control the object to eliminate separateness. The author presents clinical material to demonstrate this alternative model.     

Love, drive and desire in the works of Freud, Lacan and Proust

Both Freud and Lacan have made love the object of scientific enquiry, which is in itself remarkable, since we usually turn this subject over to literary and philosophical treatment. This article discusses Freud and Lacan's contributions to the psychology of love through dialogue with Marcel Proust's seminal novel, Remembrance of Things Past, with special emphasis on the middle sections. The point of departure is love's manifestation in the analytical situation. Freud has described transference love as both resistance and as an extreme variant of normal falling in love, to which Lacan adds the deceptive character of transference. From transference love the investigation continues to the contradictions Freud has described in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality as love's affectionate and sensual currents. Lacan contributes the concept of desire, which must be distinguished from drive and love. The differentiation between desire, drive and love introduces the perspective necessary for a psychoanalytic reading of Proust's opus. The main objective is a reading of the protagonists, Albertine and the Baron de Charlus, as representatives of the vicissitudes of love and drive, respectively.     

Sexuality and the Longing for Salvation

Sexuality, with all its expressiveness, strongly reflects the deep vibrations that exist in the human psyche. In this article, we try to show that sexuality can also manifest itself in the darkest realm of real addiction, and, as it were, can become a cry for salvation; and further, that sexuality is the powerful reflection of an aching body, longing for purification, and thus, salvation.     

The issue of sexuality in group psychotherapy

Sexuality is an underlying, but often unspoken and ignored issue in group psychotherapy. Within the context of how a group reacts to and uses sexuality, the authors focus on three relationship areas: client/client, client/therapist, and therapist/therapist. Some of the hazards of failing to deal with sexually laden conflicts and intimacy issues in these relationships are explored. Some of the advantages of an open and honest approach to uncovering sexrole related stereotypes and behaviors are proposed. The authors attempt to demonstrate that recognition of therapists' and group members' sexuality must be appreciated as an important element in the therapeutic process.     

The otherness of sexuality: excess

The present essay, the second of a series of three, aims at developing an experience-near account of sexuality by rehabilitating the idea of excess and its place in sexual experience. It is suggested that various types of excess, such as excess of excitation (Freud), the excess of the other (Laplanche), excess beyond symbolization and the excess of the forbidden object of desire (Leviticus; Lacan) work synergistically to constitute the compelling power of sexuality. In addition to these notions, further notions of excess touch on its transformative potential. Such notions address excess that shatters psychic structures and that is actively sought so as to enable new ones to evolve (Bersani). Work is quoted that regards excess as a way of dealing with our lonely, discontinuous being by using the "excessive" cosmic energy circulating through us to achieve continuity against death (Bataille). Two contemporary analytic thinkers are engaged who deal with the object-relational and intersubjective vicissitudes of excess.     

Crones, Dirty Old Men, Sexy Seniors: Representations of the Sexuality of Older Persons

The representations of the sexuality of older persons in American society are neither flattering nor accurate. Often what is presented is filled with confusion, uncertainty, and contradictions. Sexuality of old people, like sexuality of adolescents, frightens most adults in between. Evidence suggests hope that in popular culture, conventional representations of sexless older people are finally undergoing a change. The popular literature aimed at elderly or midlife audiences increasingly portrays older persons as healthy, vigorous, and not unattractive. Since in the popular mind attractiveness and sexuality are believed to be closely linked, this change signals an increased willingness to credit old people who are aging well (i.e., who look and act young) with being sexually interested and probably active.     

Sexuality as an Integral Part of the Church's Being and Mission

The article draws on the experience of being part of the Reference Group on Human Sexuality and other debates on sexuality in the World Council of Churches to discuss the “Message of the 11th Assembly.” It makes explicit how issues of sexuality have been avoided and how they ground the understanding of theological perspectives and the church's being and mission. Finally, it presents alternatives to reclaim sexuality and make the movement of reconciliation grounded in a transformative and queer spirituality more concrete and truthful to people's lives – a sexy movement.     

Infantile sexuality: Its place in the conceptual developments of Anna Freud and Donald W. Winnicott

This essay explores the place of infantile sexuality in the theories of Anna Freud and Donald W Winnicott. Both Anna Freud and D.W. Winnicott incorporated and at the same time changed the classical psychoanalytic account of infantile sexuality and the instinctual drives. Whilst Anna Freud remained closer to her father's original conceptualization, she developed a multidimensional model of development which gave the drives a foundational status whist also maintaining their significance in giving meaning and texture to children's subjective experience. Winnicott also retained much of S. Freud's original theorizing except that in a fundamental way he turned it on its head when considering earliest development. For him the establishment of the self was paramount, and the drives and infantile sexuality merely served to give substance to that self.     

Discussion of Jorgelina Corbatta’s “Sexuality,Normality, and Social Terror: XXY by Lucía Puenzo”

Gender is confusing. Sexuality is confusing. Gender and sexuality are confusing and confounding for children, adolescents, and adults. Jorgelina Corbatta (this issue) gives us a glimpse as to how we might think about the complexity and confusion of gender and sexuality by sharing her analysis of the film XXY (Puenzo, 2007). We are grateful to her, both for her fine discussion of these issues and for sharing a poetic work of art that brings so many complicated topics to light.     

SEXUALITY IN PERIMENOPAUSAL AND POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN

This article reviews psychosocial and biological aspects of the effects of menopause on sexuality. Sexuality is conceptualized as having multiple dimensions including desire, arousal, and orgasm. Population studies have revealed that postmenopausal status is associated with decline in these components of sexual functioning. While it is probable that psychological response to menopause affects sexual functioning, little research has addressed this issue. Considerable research has addressed the possible relationship between sexuality and menopausal hormone changes. Some research shows that low estrogen levels are associated with diminished sexual response and that estrogen replacement produces enhanced sexual response. Other studies, however, do not show this. Testosterone level is more clearly related to at least some measures of sexuality. Issues for future research are discussed.