Contraceptives and methods preventing the spread of venereal diseases as well as general social changes are considered to be important reasons for the fact that sexual genitality has nowadays become a 'real' private affair no longer subjected to any kind of alienation. As a sequel to this result we are faced with both chances and dangers. The former consist in the existence of a secure area for gaining sexual experiences at a time when the personality as a whole has not yet reached its full differentiation. The latter are seen in the possibility that, without the restraining influence of sexual taboos, differentiation and integration of psychic structures which are bound up with the vicissitudes of partnerships, in particular of two-person relations, might seriously suffer in a way complementary to the detrimental effects of too strong repressive sexual methods. In this connection it is claimed that H. Marcuse's thesis of sexual