This article argues that developmentally oriented theories of sexuality rest on a set of interlocking assumptions that are highly questionable from scientific, epistemological, and political points of view. The author argues that these assumptions push developmental theories from their intended status as descriptions, which might aid the clinician, into normalizing prescriptions, which tend to function as defenses against desire and uncertainty, rather that to expand erotic possibilities and increase the tolerance of ambiguity. To illustrate, some recent psychoanalytic writing about same-sex desire is analyzed. Finally, the author briefly offers the notion of eroticism as including the political, and alternative conception of the growth and functioning of sexuality that emphasizes intrapsychic and interpersonal processes without being developmentalist in the sense that this article criticizes.