Genital Self-Discovery During a Boy's Second Year—A Follow-Up

A longitudinal or developmental line approach to the study of the genital exploration and self-stimulation of a normal boy during his second year permits correlation of these specific observations with other developmental and maturational data to elucidate: (1) the progression from first-year genital self-stimulation toward oedipal masturbation; (2) the boy's gradual acquisition of knowledge about the penis, scrotal sac, testicles, and meatus urinarius; (3) the fluctuating emergence of the mental representations of self and object,

especially as they pertain to this important body area; ambiguity of representation seemed to contribute to symbolic equations of breast = penis and feces = penis or testicles; (4) precursors of castration anxiety; (5) early fantasies related to his identification with his mother's pregnancy; and (6) vignettes of other aspects of infantile sexuality (libidinal) such as exhibitionism (with its related affect, pride), looking (scoptophilia), and oedipal feelings. This child's verbal facility permitted the collection of more nonspeculative data than are usually obtainable at this age.