Epilogue

The Recently Increased Interest in Sexuality in Psychoanalysis has been reflected in more discussion in the literature. The papers in this volume have aimed to expand this interest and describe some of the newer ideas and questions.

Depathologizing homosexuality has resulted in more attention to clinical and theoretical issues concerning sexual object choice and development and women's sexual responses. The extent to which sexual orientation and object choice are “choices” is a subject of some debate. For example, Golden raises some questions about the ways in which sexual orientation is experienced as a matter of “choice” for some individuals as described in a series of interviews. She also discusses some of the determinants.

There is also a renewed interest in the role of the female body and its relationship to the female psyche. Notman has defined a number of these concerns. The implications of these papers have created both the need and the possibility to revise long-held ideas about developmental pathways and origins of these responses.

It is clear that these papers do not answer all the questions about the complex issues of the development of a sense of gender identity and sexuality. We hope, however, that they take us a step further along the way.