The question left open by Freud—whether there is a preliminary sadistic phase of the masculine beating fantasy—is answered in the affirmative. The aggression of the boy is first of all directed against the breasts of the pre-oedipal mother, and is only secondarily, under pressure of guilt feelings, turned against himself. In so doing the buttocks of the boy are equated with the breasts of the mother, which among other things represents a narcissistic attempt at restitution, and the executive is only subsequently, in the Oedipal phase, 'transcribed' from mother to father. I have tried by means of casuistic material to prove this theory. The material exhibits complete agreement with the second and third phases according to Freud.