accomplish these very important constructions so significant for the
later personal culture and normality? They are probably brought about at
the cost of the infantile sexuality itself, the influx of which has not
stopped even in this latency period--the energy of which indeed has been
turned away either wholly or partially from sexual utilization and
conducted to other aims. The historians of civilization seem to be
unanimous in the opinion that such deviation of sexual motive powers
from sexual aims to new aims, a process which merits the name of
_sublimation_, has furnished powerful components for all cultural
accomplishments. We will therefore add that the same process acts in the
development of every individual, and that it begins to act in the sexual
latency period.[7]
We can also venture an opinion about the mechanisms of such sublimation.
The sexual feelings of these infantile years on the one hand could not
be utilizable, since the procreating functions are postponed,--this is
the chief character of the latency period; on the other hand, they would
in themselves be perverse, as they would emanate from erogenous zones
and would be born of impulses which in the individual's course of
development could only evoke a feeling of displeasure. They therefore
awaken contrary forces (feelings of reaction), which in order to
suppress such displeasure, build up the above mentioned psychic dams:
loathing, shame, and morality.[8]
*The Interruptions of the Latency Period.*--Without deluding ourselves
as to the hypothetical nature and deficient clearness of our
understanding regarding the infantile period of latency and delay, we
will return to reality and state that such a utilization of the
infantile sexuality represents an ideal bringing up from which the
development of the individual usually deviates in some measure and often
very considerably. A portion of the sexual manifestation which has
withdrawn from sublimation occasionally breaks through, or a sexual
activity remains throughout the whole duration of the latency period
until the reinforced breaking through of the sexual impulse in puberty.
In so far as they have paid any attention to infantile sexuality the
educators behave as if they shared our views concerning the formation of
the moral forces of defence at the cost of sexuality, and as if they
knew that sexual activity makes the child uneducable; for the educators
consider all sexual manifestations of the child as an "evil" in the face
of which little can be accomplished. We have, however, every reason for
directing our attention to those phenomena so much feared by the
educators, for we expect to find in them the solution of the primitive
formation of the sexual impulse.
THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE INFANTILE SEXUALITY
For reasons which we shall discuss later we will take as a model of the
infantile sexual manifestations thumbsucking (pleasure-sucking), to
which the Hungarian pediatrist, Lindner, has devoted an excellent
essay.[9]
*Thumbsucking.*--Thumbsucking, which manifests itself in the nursing
baby and which may be continued till maturity or throughout life,
consists in a rhythmic repetition of sucking contact with the mouth (the
lips), wherein the purpose of taking nourishment is excluded. A part of
the lip itself, the tongue, which is another preferable skin region
within reach, and even the big toe--may be taken as objects for sucking.
Simultaneously, there is also a desire to grasp things, which manifests
itself in a rhythmical pulling of the ear lobe and which may cause the
child to grasp a part of another person (generally the ear) for the same
purpose. The pleasure-sucking is connected with an entire exhaustion of
attention and leads to sleep or even to a motor reaction in the form of
an orgasm.[10] Pleasure-sucking is often combined with a rubbing contact
with certain sensitive parts of the body, such as the breast and
external genitals. It is by this road that many children go from
thumb-sucking to masturbation.
Lindner himself has recognized the sexual nature of this action and
openly emphasized it. In the nursery thumbsucking is often treated in
the same way as any other sexual "naughtiness" of the child. A very
strong objection was raised against this view by many pediatrists and
neurologists which in part is certainly due to the confusion of the
terms "sexual" and "genital." This contradiction raises the difficult
question, which cannot be rejected, namely, in what general traits do we
wish to recognize the sexual manifestations of the child. I believe that
the association of the manifestations into which we gained an insight
through psychoanalytic investigation justify us in claiming thumbsucking
as a sexual activity and in studying through it the essential features
of the infantile sexual activity.
*Autoerotism.*--It is our duty here to arrange this state of affairs
differently. Let us insist that the most striking character of this
sexual activity is that the impulse is not directed against other
persons but that it gratifies itself on its own body; to use the happy
term invented by Havelock Ellis, we will say that it is autoerotic.[11]
It is, moreover, clear that the action of the thumbsucking child is
determined by the fact that it seeks a pleasure which has already been
experienced and is now remembered. Through the rhythmic sucking on a
portion of the skin or mucous membrane it finds the gratification in the
simplest way. It is also easy to conjecture on what occasions the child
first experienced this pleasure which it now strives to renew. The first
and most important activity in the child's life, the sucking from the
mother's breast (or its substitute), must have acquainted it with this
pleasure. We would say that the child's lips behaved like an _erogenous
zone_, and that the excitement through the warm stream of milk was
really the cause of the pleasurable sensation. To be sure, the
gratification of the erogenous zone was at first united with the
gratification of taking nourishment. He who sees a satiated child sink
back from the mother's breast, and fall asleep with reddened cheeks and
blissful smile, will have to admit that this picture remains as typical
of the expression of sexual gratification in later life. But the desire
for repetition of the sexual gratification is separated from the desire
for taking nourishment; a separation which becomes unavoidable with the
appearance of the teeth when the nourishment is no longer sucked in but
chewed. The child does not make use of a strange object for sucking but
prefers its own skin because it is more convenient, because it thus
makes itself independent of the outer world which it cannot yet control,
and because in this way it creates for itself, as it were, a second,
even if an inferior, erogenous zone. The inferiority of this second
region urges it later to seek the same parts, the lips of another
person. ("It is a pity that I cannot kiss myself," might be attributed
to it.)
Not all children suck their thumbs. It may be assumed that it is found
only in children in whom the erogenous significance of the lip-zone is
constitutionally reënforced. Children in whom this is retained are
habitual kissers as adults and show a tendency to perverse kissing, or
as men they have a marked desire for drinking and smoking. But if
repression comes into play they experience disgust for eating and evince
hysterical vomiting. By virtue of the community of the lip-zone the
repression encroaches upon the impulse of nourishment. Many of my female
patients showing disturbances in eating, such as hysterical globus,
choking sensations, and vomiting, have been energetic thumbsuckers
during infancy.
In the thumbsucking or pleasure-sucking we have already been able to
observe the three essential characters of an infantile sexual
manifestation. The latter has its origin in conjunction with a bodily
function which is very important for life, it does not yet know any
sexual object, it is _autoerotic_ and its sexual aim is under the
control of an _erogenous zone_. Let us assume for the present that these
characters also hold true for most of the other activities of the
infantile sexual impulse.
THE SEXUAL AIM OF THE INFANTILE SEXUALITY
*The Characters of the Erogenous Zones.*--From the example of
thumbsucking we may gather a great many points useful for the
distinguishing of an erogenous zone. It is a portion of skin or mucous
membrane in which the stimuli produce a feeling of pleasure of definite
quality. There is no doubt that the pleasure-producing stimuli are
governed by special determinants which we do not know. The rhythmic
characters must play some part in them and this strongly suggests an
analogy to tickling. It does not, however, appear so certain whether the
character of the pleasurable feeling evoked by the stimulus can be
designated as "peculiar," and in what part of this peculiarity the
sexual factor exists. Psychology is still groping in the dark when it
concerns matters of pleasure and pain, and the most cautious assumption
is therefore the most advisable. We may perhaps later come upon reasons
which seem to support the peculiar quality of the sensation of pleasure.
The erogenous quality may adhere most notably to definite regions of the
body. As is shown by the example of thumbsucking, there are predestined
erogenous zones. But the same example also shows that any other region
of skin or mucous membrane may assume the function of an erogenous zone;
it must therefore carry along a certain adaptability. The production of
the sensation of pleasure therefore depends more on the quality of the
stimulus than on the nature of the bodily region. The thumbsucking child
looks around on his body and selects any portion of it for
pleasure-sucking, and becoming accustomed to it, he then prefers it. If
he accidentally strikes upon a predestined region, such as breast,
nipple or genitals, it naturally has the preference. A quite analogous
tendency to displacement is again found in the symptomatology of
hysteria. In this neurosis the repression mostly concerns the genital
zones proper; these in turn transmit their excitation to the other
erogenous zones, usually dormant in mature life, which then behave
exactly like genitals. But besides this, just as in thumbsucking, any
other region of the body may become endowed with the excitation of the
genitals and raised to an erogenous zone. Erogenous and hysterogenous
zones show the same characters.[12]
*The Infantile Sexual Aim.*--The sexual aim of the infantile impulse
consists in the production of gratification through the proper
excitation of this or that selected erogenous zone. In order to leave a
desire for its repetition this gratification must have been previously
experienced, and we may be sure that nature has devised definite means
so as not to leave this occurrence to mere chance. The arrangement which
has fulfilled this purpose for the lip-zone we have already discussed;
it is the simultaneous connection of this part of the body with the
taking of nourishment. We shall also meet other similar mechanisms as
sources of sexuality. The state of desire for repetition of
gratification can be recognized through a peculiar feeling of tension
which in itself is rather of a painful character, and through a
centrally-determined feeling of itching or sensitiveness which is
projected into the peripheral erogenous zone. The sexual aim may
therefore be formulated as follows: the chief object is to substitute
for the projected feeling of sensitiveness in the erogenous zone that
outer stimulus which removes the feeling of sensitiveness by evoking the
feeling of gratification. This external stimulus consists usually in a
manipulation which is analogous to sucking.
It is in full accord with our physiological knowledge if the desire
happens to be awakened also peripherally through an actual change in the
erogenous zone. The action is puzzling only to some extent as one
stimulus for its suppression seems to want another applied to the same
place.
THE MASTURBATIC SEXUAL MANIFESTATIONS[13]
It is a matter of great satisfaction to know that there is nothing
further of greater importance to learn about the sexual activity of the
child after the impulse of one erogenous zone has become comprehensible
to us. The most pronounced differences are found in the action necessary
for the gratification, which consists in sucking for the lip zone and
which must be replaced by other muscular actions according to the
situation and nature of the other zones.
*The Activity of the Anal Zone.*--Like the lip zone the anal zone is,
through its position, adapted to conduct the sexuality to the other
functions of the body. It should be assumed that the erogenous
significance of this region of the body was originally very large.
Through psychoanalysis one finds, not without surprise, the many
transformations that are normally undertaken with the usual excitations
emanating from here, and that this zone often retains for life a
considerable fragment of genital irritability.[14] The intestinal
catarrhs so frequent during infancy produce intensive irritations in
this zone, and we often hear it said that intestinal catarrh at this
delicate age causes "nervousness." In later neurotic diseases they exert
a definite influence on the symptomatic expression of the neurosis,
placing at its disposal the whole sum of intestinal disturbances.
Considering the erogenous significance of the anal zone which has been
retained at least in transformation, one should not laugh at the
hemorrhoidal influences to which the old medical literature attached so
much weight in the explanation of neurotic states.
Children utilizing the erogenous sensitiveness of the anal zone can be
recognized by their holding back of fecal masses until through
accumulation there result violent muscular contractions; the passage of
these masses through the anus is apt to produce a marked irritation of
the mucus membrane. Besides the pain this must produce also a sensation
of pleasure. One of the surest premonitions of later eccentricity or
nervousness is when an infant obstinately refuses to empty his bowel
when placed on the chamber by the nurse and reserves this function at
its own pleasure. It does not concern him that he will soil his bed; all
he cares for is not to lose the subsidiary pleasure while defecating.
The educators have again the right inkling when they designate children
who withhold these functions as bad. The content of the bowel which is
an exciting object to the sexually sensitive surface of mucous membrane
behaves like the precursor of another organ which does not become active
until after the phase of childhood. In addition it has other important
meanings to the nursling. It is evidently treated as an additional part
of the body, it represents the first "donation," the disposal of which
expresses the pliability while the retention of it can express the
spite of the little being towards its environment. From the idea of
"donation" he later gains the meaning of the "babe" which according to
one of the infantile sexual theories is acquired through eating and is
born through the bowel.
The retention of fecal masses, which is at first intentional in order to
utilize them, as it were, for masturbatic excitation of the anal zone,
is at least one of the roots of constipation so frequent in neuropaths.
The whole significance of the anal zone is mirrored in the fact that
there are but few neurotics who have not their special scatologic
customs, ceremonies, etc., which they retain with cautious secrecy.
Real masturbatic irritation of the anal zone by means of the fingers,
evoked through either centrally or peripherally supported itching, is
not at all rare in older children.
*The Activity of the Genital Zone.*--Among the erogenous zones of the
child's body there is one which certainly does not play the main rôle,
and which cannot be the carrier of earliest sexual feeling--which,
however, is destined for great things in later life. In both male and
female it is connected with the voiding of urine (penis, clitoris), and
in the former it is enclosed in a sack of mucous membrane, probably in
order not to miss the irritations caused by the secretions which may
arouse the sexual excitement at an early age. The sexual activities of
this erogenous zone, which belongs to the real genitals, are the
beginning of the later normal sexual life.
Owing to the anatomical position, the overflowing of secretions, the
washing and rubbing of the body, and to certain accidental excitements
(the wandering of intestinal worms in the girl), it happens that the
pleasurable feeling which these parts of the body are capable of
producing makes itself noticeable to the child even during the sucking
age, and thus awakens desire for its repetition. When we review all the
actual arrangements, and bear in mind that the measures for cleanliness
have the same effect as the uncleanliness itself, we can then scarcely
mistake nature's intention, which is to establish the future primacy of
these erogenous zones for the sexual activity through the infantile
onanism from which hardly an individual escapes. The action of removing
the stimulus and setting free the gratification consists in a rubbing
contiguity with the hand or in a certain previously-formed pressure
reflex effected by the closure of the thighs. The latter procedure seems
to be the more primitive and is by far the more common in girls. The
preference for the hand in boys already indicates what an important part
of the male sexual activity will be accomplished in the future by the
impulse to mastery (Bemächtigungstrieb).[15] It can only help towards
clearness if I state that the infantile masturbation should be divided
into three phases. The first phase belongs to the nursing period, the
second to the short flourishing period of sexual activity at about the
fourth year, only the third corresponds to the one which is often
considered exclusively as onanism of puberty.
The infantile onanism seems to disappear after a brief time, but it may
continue uninterruptedly till puberty and thus represent the first
marked deviation from the development desirable for civilized man. At
some time during childhood after the nursing period, the sexual impulse
of the genitals reawakens and continues active for some time until it is
again suppressed, or it may continue without interruption. The possible
relations are very diverse and can only be elucidated through a more
precise analysis of individual cases. The details, however, of this
_second_ infantile sexual activity leave behind the profoundest
(unconscious) impressions in the persons's memory; if the individual
remains healthy they determine his character and if he becomes sick
after puberty they determine the symptomatology of his neurosis.[16] In
the latter case it is found that this sexual period is forgotten and the
conscious reminiscences pointing to them are displaced; I have already
mentioned that I would like to connect the normal infantile amnesia with
this infantile sexual activity. By psychoanalytic investigation it is
possible to bring to consciousness the forgotten material, and thereby
to remove a compulsion which emanates from the unconscious psychic
material.
*The Return of the Infantile Masturbation.*--The sexual excitation of
the nursing period returns during the designated years of childhood as a
centrally determined tickling sensation demanding onanistic
gratification, or as a pollution-like process which, analogous to the
pollution of maturity, may attain gratification without the aid of any
action. The latter case is more frequent in girls and in the second half
of childhood; its determinants are not well understood, but it often,
though not regularly, seems to have as a basis a period of early active
onanism. The symptomatology of this sexual manifestation is poor; the
genital apparatus is still undeveloped and all signs are therefore
displayed by the urinary apparatus which is, so to say, the guardian of
the genital apparatus. Most of the so-called bladder disturbances of
this period are of a sexual nature; whenever the enuresis nocturna does
not represent an epileptic attack it corresponds to a pollution.
The return of the sexual activity is determined by inner and outer
causes which can be conjectured from the formation of the symptoms of
neurotic diseases and definitely revealed by psychoanalytic
investigations. The internal causes will be discussed later, the
accidental outer causes attain at this time a great and permanent
significance. As the first outer cause we have the influence of
seduction which prematurely treats the child as a sexual object; under
conditions favoring impressions this teaches the child the gratification
of the genital zones, and thus usually forces it to repeat this
gratification in onanism. Such influences can come from adults or other
children. I cannot admit that I overestimated its frequency or its
significance in my contributions to the etiology of hysteria,[17] though
I did not know then that normal individuals may have the same
experiences in their childhood, and hence placed a higher value on
seductions than on the factors found in the sexual constitution and
development.[18] It is quite obvious that no seduction is necessary to
awaken the sexual life of the child, that such an awakening may come on
spontaneously from inner sources.
*Polymorphous-perverse Disposition.*--It is instructive to know that
under the influence of seduction the child may become
polymorphous-perverse and may be misled into all sorts of
transgressions. This goes to show that it carries along the adaptation
for them in its disposition. The formation of such perversions meets but
slight resistance because the psychic dams against sexual
transgressions, such as shame, loathing and morality--which depend on
the age of the child--are not yet erected or are only in the process of
formation. In this respect the child perhaps does not behave differently
from the average uncultured woman in whom the same polymorphous-perverse
disposition exists. Such a woman may remain sexually normal under usual
conditions, but under the guidance of a clever seducer she will find
pleasure in every perversion and will retain the same as her sexual
activity. The same polymorphous or infantile disposition fits the
prostitute for her professional activity, and in the enormous number of
prostitutes and of women to whom we must attribute an adaptation for
prostitution, even if they do not follow this calling, it is absolutely
impossible not to recognize in their uniform disposition for all
perversions the universal and primitive human.