MSc Theoretical Psychoanalytic Studies 2015-16

COURSEWORK ESSAY COVER SHEET

5-digit Student JTPY2

Academic Code

Date 11/12/2015

Essay Question 1
Number

Essay title
in full The psychoanalytic conception of sexuality is broader than the
general understanding of it, as a description of genital activity. Using
Freud’s case history of either “Dora” or “Little Hans” to illustrate your
points, describe how Freud expanded the concept

Word Count 2497

Module number PSYCGT10

Module title Fundamentals of Psychoanalytic Theory/Freud Reading Seminars

 Psychoanalysis has given an important emphasis to sexuality in human being’s

growing processes and mental life (Laplanche and Pontalis, 1973). The concept of

sexuality from a Psychoanalytical perspective goes beyond the limits of the traditional

meaning assigned to it. Through this perspective, sexuality cannot be reduced to a mere

description of genital activity, ¨[…] it also embraces a whole range of excitations and

activities which may be observed from infancy onwards and which procure a pleasure that

cannot be adequately explained in terms of the satisfaction of a basic physiological need

[…]” (Laplanche and Pontalis, 1973, p.418).

In his work on Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud exposed his main

ideas regarding sexuality: introducing the revolutionary notion of infantile sexuality.

Previously, in Studies on Hysteria, he had already began to notice that sexually associated

elements might be linked to the onset of hysteria symptoms, elements which had taken

place during childhood, triggered by real seduction of adults. This hypothesis was later

changed in 1897, after Freud did a self-analysis, in which he established that children had

sexual impulses from the beginning of life, not caused by real adult seduction. (Quinodoz,

2005).

It is necessary to illustrate how the concept of sexuality is understood from a

Psychoanalytical perspective, and the implication it has according to Freudian Theory. The

understanding of sexuality will be supported by a case history “Analysis of a phobia in a

five year old boy (Little Hans)”, in order to demonstrate how theory meets clinical

evidence. The analysis of this case facilitates the opportunity to directly witness infantile

sexuality and sexual wishes that appear shielded up in neurotics. (Freud, 1909)

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 Freud (1905) described that sexual instincts were present from childhood and did

not emerge in puberty, as it was commonly believed at the time. Hans, from the age of

three years old, shows a lot of interest in his penis, which he calls widdler. He is not just

curious about his own widdler, but also about those of animals and his parents. Regarding

the presence of widdlers, he distinguishes two different objects; living and non-living

(Freud, 1909). Evidence emerges surrounding the important role that male genitalia had

on his early childhood, and how it was crucial to his first understanding of the world in

order to organise it by classifications. Hans’ sexual inquiries and questions became

progressively intensified, aimed particularly at his parents. He persistently asked them

about their own widdlers (Freud, 1909). Psychoanalysis has taught us that the child´s

instinct of knowledge evolves intensively around sexual conflicts, and probably rises due to

these conflicts (Freud, 1905).

At the age of three and a half, Hans starts displaying autoerotic behaviour by

touching his penis. On one occasion, his mother found him and told him that if he

continued that kind of behaviour she would call the doctor and his penis would be cut off.

This is a real castration threat made by his mother, and even though, at the time, Hans did

not show associated guiltiness (Freud, 1909). Freud (1909) established this was when the

castration complex started: “Castration complex ought to be confined to those excitations

and consequences which are bound up with the loss of the penis” (p.8). Freud (1909) says

that it cannot be assumed that there is a real threat in every child, but children will

themselves perceive out of the slimmest clues.

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 This case study demonstrates that Hans not only displayed autoerotic behaviour

but also that sexual feelings directed towards other children were present, which at the

beginning were aimed towards both boys and girls. Hans showed affection towards his five

year old cousin by hugging him, and saying he liked him. There is a suggestion of

homosexuality in his actions. (Freud, 1909) At this point there is no fixed object yet, and

there is a predisposition for the choice of boy or girl as an object. This aspect of sexuality,

relates to the concept of bisexuality. Freud (1905) concluded that humans have a

predominant sex, but that there are indicators of the contrasting sex in terms of anatomic

structures. According to anatomical studies, there is an original bisexual psychical

disposition. However, Freud incorporated the concept of bisexuality to a mental dimension,

indicating that from childhood, both feminine and masculine dispositions cohabit in the

human mind, and the election of an object will rely on the superiority of one of the

propensities above the other (Quinidoz, 2005).

Hans later manifests preference for girls and his behaviour changed, establishing a

masculine attitude by being aggressive and positioning himself in a superior place. He said

they are his girls, and often tried to kiss them, demonstrating very explicit attitudes towards

Olga, Bertha, and Maryld (Freud, 1909). Hans was often put to bed with his parents,

situation which awakened erotic feelings. He had the desire to sleep with Maryld and this

had its origin in the relationship with his mother (Freud, 1909). The incestuous wish for

intimacy with his mother had its roots on the presence/absence of his father while he was

on vacation in Gmuden. Hans’ object choice was his mother, whom he had to renounce to

and then redirect his libido towards other girls, he later had to give them up as well (when

he moved to Vienna), redirecting again his libido towards the mother, which is when his

neurosis is generated. He is now threatened with his personal incestuous wishes (Freud,

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1909). Freud (1905 ) recognised that the process of object choice occurs in two phases:

firstly during childhood between the age of two and five, and then later in puberty with the

final result of sexual life. So, by the time of childhood there is the presence of a sexual

object-choice.

Freud established that during early childhood, sexual instincts are aimed at

obtaining pleasure from the child´s own body. The first pleasing sensations that the child

experience (for example from sucking the mother´s breast) are later reiterated by sucking

his own thumb. At first, sexual activity is linked to the purpose of survival, but later it

disconnects from this objective, and is directed to the pursuit of satisfaction. The main

feature of children’s sexuality is the pursuit for satisfaction from their own body, in other

words autoerotic sexuality (Freud, 1905). Freud then classifies pre-genital sexuality into

stages, and defines the process of developing of the libido. This is a process that consists

of consecutive stages determined by the dominant erotogenic area. The stages are: the

oral phase, the anal-sadistic phase and the genital phase. In the year 1923, he

incorporated a new stage: The phallic stage which takes place after the anal phase, and

before the genital phase. Its main characteristic is that the sexual instinct is attached to the

same erotogenic zone in boys and girls; the penis in men and the clitoris in girls

(Quinodoz, 2005). Freud (1905) recognized that any part of the body can be an erotogenic

zone, but from his studies concluded that there are some areas of the body that seem to

be predetermined to be a base of an excitation of sexual nature. “The final outcome of

sexual development lies in what is known as the normal sexual life of the adult,

in which the pursuit of pleasure comes under the sway of the reproductive

function and in which the component instincts, under the primacy of a single

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erotogenic zone, form a firm organization directed towards a sexual aim

attached to some extraneous sexual object” (p. 197).

Children’s sexual theories are another aspect of sexuality, the castration complex

being one of them. This is primordially sustained by boys, and is the assumption that male

and females have the same sexual organ: the penis. When seeing a woman’s sexual

organ, they unavoidably see the female clitoris as a representation of the penis (Freud,

1905). Hans, asks his mother if she has a widdler and does not receive a clarifying

answer. He understands that she does have one and from this point Hans develops a

sexual theory that woman have widdlers. When Hans sees Hanna in the bath he identifies

the little widdler (clitoris) and is amazed with its small size he says to himself: “When she

grows up it'll get bigger all right” (Freud, 1909, p.11). Freud (1909) indicates that it is at this

moment that castration anxiety emerges. Han’s father is told by Freud to clarify the fact

that women do not possess widdlers. However, after he does, Hans is unwilling to give up

the presence of the penis in the female. He is resistant to the incorporation of new data

(Freud, 1909). Freud realised that commonly, children show difficulties integrating real

observations, and their perceptions are unclear (Quinodoz, 2005). The awareness of the

sex differences is what will give rise to the castration complex (Laplanche and Pontalis,

1973).

Another sexual theory that children typically construct is about the origin of babies.

This is the first struggle the child is bound to the deal with and is commonly triggered by

the realisation that a new baby is on the way, making the child feel frightened of losing the

parents’ affection (Freud, 1905). Regarding the aforementioned, there are certain universal

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hypotheses among children and one of them is that “babies are born through the bowel

like a discharge, of faeces” (Freud, 1905, p. 196). When Hans is three and a half years old

his sister Hanna is born, he is not present while his mother is giving birth, but hears her

coughing and associates this to the stork coming. The birth of his sister gives rise to

conflicts regarding the possibility of losing the affection of the parents. Hans displays

jealousy towards his sister, and even mentions he did not desire to have a sister, but with

time the aggressive feelings towards her are repressed and replaced by fondness (Freud,

1909).

Hans showed inquisitiveness in the question of where babies come from, and did

not consider the stork theory to a full extent. He was aware that Hanna had been inside his

mother (due her body’s physical alterations), and that Hanna had emanated out of her

body like a lumf (Freud, 1909). Hans related the act of having a baby to passing stool.

Passing stool was something that gave him pleasure (Freud, 1909). The association that

Hans made between giving birth and passing stool is linked to what Freud called the

Cloacal Theory, which states that children do not know of the existence of the vagina, and

because of this they conclude that babies come out of the mother’s body through the same

cavity excrement does: the anus. This hypothesis the child makes, might be linked to the

fact that this is true for many animals. The central idea of this theory is that for children, the

female is perceived as only having one cavity (Laplanche and Pontalis, 1973).

Freud (1909) does not distinguish the precise moment when Hans’ phobia starts,

but there were repressed elements that had been impossible for him to manifest. He had

destructive feelings towards his father and the desire to coax with his mother. These

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elements were repressed early and could have been the foundation for his phobia (Freud,

1909). The phobia was manifested in an impossibility for him to go to the roads, allowing

him to fulfil the desire to remain at home with his mother, and permitted him to consciously

carry on the loving bond with his father (Freud, 1909).

Freud’s infantile sexual theories give great emphasis to the presence of the penis

as a central anatomical structure and leave out the presence of the vagina at the

beginning of life. There is dominant masculinity in his theory. Freudian sexual theories of

children presume that all humans have male genitals at the beginning (Horney, 1933).

Horney (1933) emphasises on the evidence that vaginal masturbation in infancy is a usual

behaviour like clitoral masturbation. Freud only focuses on the clitoris as the erotogenic

zone in girls, a clitoris that is bound to leave her in deprived position when paralleled to the

penis. She also establishes that girls from an early stage in life are able to feel sensations

in their vaginas and the impulses derived from it (Horney, 1933). Freud (1905) established

that girls, when noticing differences between the clitoris and the penis, feel envy of boys’

genitalia, which will lead to the desire to be boys.

From Freud’s point of view, well established differences between females and

males arise past puberty. Based on her work and experience, Horney (1933) has noticed

that girls between the ages of two and five years old express feminine behaviour, for

example motherly conducts. These asseverations are not in line with Freudian thinking, in

terms of predominance of masculinity in the sexuality of girls. Horney (1903) has observed

little boys desiring womanly features at a very young age, for instance to possess breasts

or/and to have a child of their own (Horney, 1903). This could be related to Hans’

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behaviour towards other girls, as he always referred to them as my little girls, emphasising

that they were his girls and also the pleasure he had in passing stool, which he associated

with babies coming out like lumf (Freud, 1909). Both aspects could possibly cover an

unconscious desire of having children of his own, just like his mother. Some authors have

argued that Hans did identify with his mother and Freud did not take this into consideration

(Frankiel, 1992). “Hans' feminine identification with mother in her pregnancy and hope to

emulate her production of babies with his faeces is well documented” (Garrison, Ross,

Shanken, Silverman in Frankiel, 1992, p. 331).

Horney (1933) concludes in relation to girl’s early sexual development: “She must

from the outset have a lively sense of this specific character of her own sexual role and

a primary penis-envy of the strength postulated by Freud would be hard to account for” (p.

69).

Freud was assertive in postulating the presence of sexual instincts from early

stages in life, which can be observed directly since social suppression is not something the

child has incorporated. Nevertheless, the case of Hans, illustrates the development of a

young boy, making it difficult to observe what girls’ infantile sexual manifestations would

have been. Horney’s postulates demonstrate that Freud did not take into consideration an

aspect in woman that is crucial; the presence of the vagina. A vagina that is perceived and

felt by little girls. Freud’s theories may apply very well to some boys’ development, but to

generalise this to both sexes, recognising the presence of just one sexual apparatus from

childhood: the penis, leaves the girl in an unrecognised position. The vagina must be taken

into account, in light of Horney’s expertise, which demonstrates that, for girls, the clitoris is

not the only erotogenic zone, thus establishing the question regarding whether the desire

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of boys to have breasts or babies may be experienced by them in the way that girls

experience penis-envy and therefore, generate in them the wish to be girls.

References:

Frankiel RV (1992). Analysed and Unanalysed Themes in the Treatment of Little Hans. Int.
Rev. Psycho-Anal 19:323-333.

Freud S (1905). Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. SE 7, pp. 123-246.

Freud S (1909). Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-Year-Old Boy. SE 10, pp. 1-150.

Horney K (1933). The Denial of the Vagina—A Contribution to the Problem of the Genital
Anxieties Specific to Women. Int. J. Psycho-Anal 14:57-70.
Laplanche J, Pontalis JB (1973). The Language of Psycho-Analysis. Int. Psycho-Anal. Lib
94:1-497.
Quinodoz JM (2005). Reading Freud: A Chronological Exploration of Freud´s writings.
London: New Library of Psychoanalysis. 320 pp.

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