An Example of Academic Writing by Freelance Copy UK
Written for the University of Kent at Canterbury. A Master of Arts in Psychoanalytic Studies (1994)
SUMMARY
On researching the Question of whether infantile sexuality exists, I came across a clear-cut division of widely divergent views indicating that there was a significant controversy in the thinking on this topic, not only in psychoanalysis but also in society as a whole.
I began by examining Freud's paper ‘Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality’ which set a revolutionary precedent for discussion on the concept of human sexuality. In it Freud describes so many convincing examples of sexual behaviour in children, in both theory and practice that I became curious to investigate the opposing point of view.
I move on to discuss Alice Miller's views which directly contradict Freud, and conclude that although she makes some strong criticism, it is possible that she has become somewhat entrenched in her ideology which takes the pathology of child sexual abuse as the norm. One specific issue in Freud's theory which she, and many others hotly contest is the model of the oedipus complex, which I analyse extensively in my third chapter.
Ultimately I develop the view that the theory of the oedipus complex has become completely out-moded and inappropriate, and in chapter four I consider various alternative theories of infantile sexuality which deny the oedipus complex its central position, and down-play its significance altogether. In general I conclude that a theory of infantile sexuality only succeeds in so far as it fully abandons the idea of the oedipus complex, and is able to shake itself free from the old-fashioned prejudices constructed at the turn of the century by Sigmund Freud.
INTRODUCTION
There is a controversial debate within the field of psychoanalysis which also reaches out into society, concerning the question of whether children are sexual beings or not. Much of psychoanalysis is in favour, rallying behind Freud who first proposed the idea in 1905, but there are many others who strongly disagree, and it is this dichotomy which provides the foundation for the present dissertation.
A more widely disputed factor in psychoanalytic circles is the question of what infantile sexuality actually consists of, how it manifests itself, and what elements make up its component parts. Nobody would question the certainty that adults have a sexuality or that it arises from numerous different sources, pursuing satisfaction in contrasting ways, and employing many varied objects for it's aim of achieving pleasure. But the question repeatedly arises as to what babies and children experience, sensually in their immediate environment and in and around their own bodies. Do they, as Alice Miller argues, have no sexual drives or instincts at all, and are only introduced to sexuality through abuse and inappropriate adult seduction? Or do children, right from the beginning, get pleasure from activities and objects around them depending on which erotogenic zone is the most highly cathected at the time? Does sexuality suddenly come into being during the turbulent years of puberty after a childhood of "innocence", or are the seeds planted much earlier, and been evolving ever since birth to lead up to eventual adult sexual maturity?
These questions are addressed in the following chapters, and I start with an exploration of Freud's pioneering and challenging early work 'Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality' (1905). In it Freud makes it quite clear that any notion of children minus sexuality is absurd, even dangerous, because it promotes ignorance and misunderstanding amongst lay-people about such an important subject-matter. With reference to this he talks briefly about the phenomenon of infantile amnesia and suggests that this could be one of the reasons why little, if any, significance is given to childhood in the study of sexuality. People seem to have little or no memories of the pleasures and pains of their own early childhood, and try to avoid contemplating the possibility of there being one at all.
According to Freud, society has made sure that people have tended to shut their eyes and ears to possible indications of sexuality in children, in an attempt to maintain the belief that children are 'pure' and 'innocent', and not troubled with the instincts and drives associated with adults. Freud maintains that from birth onwards human beings experience a wide variety of universal sexual impulses, which no single individual is able to avoid. It is nature's design, he argues, that children do become aware of their genital region and the pleasures that their whole bodies can afford them, in order that progression towards maturity might gradually take place over a period of time, and so that the conflicts and desires they experience might propel the child towards the ultimate goal of 'normal' adult sexuality.
Freud lists many detailed examples in support of his argument, some of which I give special attention to in this first chapter, and some of which Alice Miller vehemently criticises in her book 'Thou Shalt Not Be Aware', which I discuss in the following chapter.
Miller concentrates more on the child's parents and how it is through misdemeanour and physical abuse that children become prematurely introduced to sexuality. She writes how, although it is natural for children to arouse sexual feelings in their parents due to a particular number of (sometimes obscure) reasons, it is the parent's duty to resist the temptation to seduce the child, and at all costs to preserve their natural innocence. She believes that ascribing children sexuality is the result of projective identification where people, especially Freud, have disliked the fact of their own sexuality to such a degree that they displace it onto other objects, such as children, thus getting rid of it in themselves.
A central theme of Freud's theory of infantile sexuality is his model of the oedipus complex and gender acquisition, and it is to this issue that I turn to next. In my third chapter I set out Freud's theory in as much detail as possible, and then criticise it thoroughly using the voices of various sympathetic, feminist authors such as Jessica Benjamin, Juliet Mitchell, Ronald Fairbairn, Alice Miller, and Carol Gilligan. In the final chapter I expand on this criticism more deeply by developing the view that in order for a theory of infantile sexuality to succeed it should forsake the idea of the oedipus complex altogether, in favour of a less biased and old-fashioned explanation of gender establishment and child development. I therefore discuss the theories of Klein, Lacan and, briefly, D.W. Winnicott to illustrate my judgement that successful philosophies of infantile sexuality must avoid placing significance on such an out-of-date and inapplicable hypothesis.