Freud attributed to the seduction scenes their screening and oedipal functions only when it seemed clear that the seductions as reported had not actually occurred (although even the fact of their occurrence would not necessarily preclude these operations).

Recognition of the oedipus complex in the subset of female patients claiming to have been seduced by their fathers was preceded by Freud's establishment that the seduction scenes could be fantasies, and by his discovery that as fantasies they served a defensive screen covering up autoerotic infantile sexuality, the exploration of which led to the discovery of the oedipus complex.