Chapter 5) The Sexual Researches of Childhood of Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality - Study Guide by Sigmund Freud

5) The Sexual Researches of Childhood

The Instinct for Knowledge

At the same time as the sexual life of children reaches its first peak, between the ages of three and five, they also begin to show signs of and instinct for knowledge. It can be seen to be characterized by a goal of mastery and uses the energy of scopophilia.

The Riddle of the Sphinx

In terms of sexual knowledge, children first puzzle about not the differences between the sexes, but where babies come from. Most children just assume that all have genitalia identical to their own and thus avoid the problem of sex differences.

Castration Complex and Penis Envy

The substitutes for the penis, which boys feel is missing in women (castration complex), plays a great par tin the form taken by many perversions. Girls, however do not deny sex differences in the same way that boys do, but instead are overcome with envy for the penis - an envy culminating in a wish to be boys themselves.

Theories of Birth

Anatomical answers are various: babies come out of the breast, or are cut out off the body, or the navel opens to let them through etc. but these early researches fall victim to repression, so are rarely remembered.

Sadistic View of Sexual Intercourse

Children, if they see sexual intercourse, view it as a sort of ill treatment - but furthermore they are more concerned with being married as a consequence.

Typical Failure of Infantile Sexual Researches

In general sexual theories of children are reflections of their own sexual constitution, and despite their errors show more understanding than one would have given them credit for - although the role of semen and female orifice will remain undiscovered.