The Genesis of Genitality*

The concept of a genesis of genitality is actually a psychoanalytic one, although the genetic viewpoint really referred originally to the sexual impulse as such, as fundamentally shown by Freud in his “Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory.” Freud' discovery of the infantile sexuality, especially of the so—called pregenital sexuality, and the primacy of the genital zone resulting from its overcoming, belongs to the genesis of genitality in the narrow sense. The definite and timely accomplishment of this primacy of the genital zone and its importance for the normal sexual development and for therapeutic prognosis has been lately specially emphasized by Reich. But just recently Ferenczi attempted to point out some subtler mechanisms of this development from the pregenital to the genital stage. I refer to the so—called Amphimixis, that is, the displacement of anal and urethral mechanisms and energies to the genitals, explaining especially the process of ejaculation in men. Linking on to this Helene Deutsch has concluded from analytic experiences that the displacement of oral libido to the vagina is essential for the full development of the feminine genitality.

But the question now is, when and how this process of development to the normal adult genitality is started and accomplished in the child: that is, what libidinal energies are displaced, by means of what mechanism this displacement occurs, what inhibitions are to be overcome and what we have to consider as the result of this biologic adjustment.