Psychology of sex - Total No. of Records in System :: 2032

CHAPTER IIITHE SEXUAL IMPULSE IN YOUTHThe First Appearance ofthe Sexual Impulsehad no existence at all. That belief was not so com-to main-IT used to be believed that in childhood the sex impulsemon as some have supposed. But if it is possibletain that the sex impulse has no normal existence in earlylife, then every manifestation of it at that period must be"perverse," and even Freud, who regards infantile sexualityas normal, also regards it as "perverse/ 7as he phrasesit, "polymorph-perverse." In any discussion of the matter,however brief, it is essential to clear upthis confusion.It must be said at the outset that what may fairly betermed manifestations of the sexual impulse even whenwe do not adopt a wide extension of the term "sexual"are undoubtedly much more frequent than was formerlyin theirsupposed. There is also a much greater rangeforce, their precocity,and their nature than has been commonlysuspected.Even in the primary and initial aptitude of the genitalorgans for sexual stimulation there is a fundamental rangeof variation. The aptitude of some infants at an early ageto manifest genital reactions, which were usually regardedas reflex signs of irritation, was long ago a familiar observation.Such manifestations do not persist in memory, sothat we have no direct evidence as to whether or not theyof both sexes can recallare pleasurable, but many personsagreeable sensations connected with the genital organs in[8*1