Sigmund Freud
Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie, 1905.
3 - Die Umgestaltungen der Pubertät
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[Prevention of inversion]
One problem arising in object choice consists in not missing the target
of the opposite sex. It is well known that this problem is not solved without
some fumbling around. The first arousals after puberty often enough miss
the mark - without permanent damage. Dessoir has justly called attention
to the regularity of the passionate friendships of young boys and girls
for their same-sex mates. The greatest power that defends against a lasting
inversion of the sexual object is certainly the attraction that the opposing
sex characteristics express for one another; nothing to explain it can
be offered in connection with these discussions. But this factor alone
is not sufficient to exclude inversion; there are indeed all sorts of supporting
aspects. Above all the inhibiting authority of society; where inversion
is not viewed as a crime, one discovers that it fully matches the sexual
inclinations of no small number of individuals. In addition, one may assume
in the case of the man that the childhood memory of the tenderness of the
mother and of other female persons into whose care he was entrusted as
a child helps powerfully to direct his choice toward the female, while
the early sexual intimidation on the part of the father and his competitive
position towards him steers him away from the same sex. The same aspects
also apply however for the girl, whose sexual activity is under the special
monitoring of the mother. This results in an inimical relationship to her
own sex, which decisively influences her object choice in the direction
deemed normal. The raising of boys by male persons (slaves in the ancient
world) appears to foster homosexuality; in today's nobility the frequency
of inversion becomes somewhat more understandable due to the employment
of male servants and the lesser personal attention paid by the mother to
her children. With many hysterical types it happens that the early loss
of one of the parents (by death, divorce, separation), after which the
remaining parent draws the entire love of the child to him or herself,
has fixed the condition for the sex of the person later chosen as the sexual
object and thus made possible a lasting inversion.