Psychosexual development of a woman

Introduction

Chapter I Psychosexual Development of the Adolescent

1.1. sexual identity

1.3. Psychosexual orientations (formation

platonic and erotic libido)

1.3.1. Acquaintance

1.3.2. Courtship

1.3.3. Love

1.3.4. Erotic dreams

1.3.5. Masturbation

Chapter II. Sexual disorders true and imaginary

2.1. Sexual disorders

2.1.2. Psychogenic sexual disorders

2.1.3. Pollutions

2.1.4. coitophobia

2.1.5. aspermetism

Chapter III. Deviant sexual behavior

3.1. Homosexuality

3.2. Bisexualism

3.3. Transsexualism

3.4. voyeurism

Conclusion

Introduction.

Adolescence separates childhood from adulthood. This period is usually divided into early adolescence i.e. senior school age(from 15 to 18 years old), and late adolescence (from 18 to 23 years old). By this period, the formation of the basic biological and psychological functions necessary for an adult for a full-fledged existence is actually completed. This is what gave rise to many researchers of the early and mid-twentieth century. To assert that the development of personality ends in adolescence. Various acmeological studies conducted over the past decades have shown that human development continues throughout life. However, this does not reduce the importance of adolescence as a productive and long phase of a person's life - adulthood.

The intermediary social position and status of youth also determines some features of the psyche. Young men are keenly concerned about such problems as their own age specificity, the right to autonomy from elders, etc. Social and personal definition presupposes not so much autonomy from adults as a clear orientation and definition of one's place in the adult world. Along with differentiation mental capacity and interests, without which it is difficult to choose a profession, this requires the development of integrative mechanisms of self-awareness, the development of a worldview and life position.

The problem of psychosexual development in adolescence at first glance does not seem to be particularly relevant for most of the adult population. The fact that in the teenage companies of a son or daughter such words as “sex” and the like are used, the parents do not even know. Due to the puritanical upbringing of parents, children do not receive reliable information about sex and sexual development, which will be available for understanding at this age. Of course, any extremes should be excluded from psychosexual education. Excessive information can cause great harm, as well as insufficient information. What is most important for parents and educators is to determine the "coverage zone" of such topics, commensurate with the development of the child's personality.

There is a debate among psychologists whether it is worth introducing into the education system such a compulsory subject that would cover the topic of psychosexual development in young men. Every medal has two sides. To educate young people is a good thing, at least the question will not arise under what circumstances it is possible to get pregnant, but on the other hand, information about sex will arouse curiosity among those young men who have not had sexual experience and, with a certain mental development, there will be a desire to try. That is, information about the intimate side of life can be perceived as a guide for action.

The fact that this kind of information is needed is an indisputable fact, but in what doses and at what age and whose lips ... the question remains open.

The development of sexuality in adolescence will undoubtedly give impetus to sexuality in the future, then with what principles and attitudes towards sex a person will come into adulthood, the fullness of his family life will hang. Today in the 21st century, it will not surprise anyone that sex is an important component of family life, and that there are more divorces due to sexual incompatibility than we think. Male and female sexuality are somewhat different from each other. This will be discussed in the main part of this work.

Now in the modern media, the topic of sex is given a lot of attention: specialized newspapers and magazines are published, which contain information about the latest scientific achievements in the field of sexology. Many stereotypes of past experience have already begun to break down. Western culture has had a strong influence on the psychosexual development of our youth, and we are talking not about the lack of information, but about its overabundance and inadequacy. That is why this problem is brought to the fore in understanding the specifics of communication between adolescents.

Chapter I. Psychosexual Development of the Adolescent

1.1. sexual identity

A born child, of course, does not know what gender he belongs to, and awareness of his gender comes gradually, under the influence, first of all, of the name (male or female), which the child receives depending on the civil sex, the clothes that he wears, the games he plays, and, very importantly, from rewards or punishments if his appearance or behavior does not meet the generally accepted standard for the given sex. Often, parents expect from a child the behavior that was in their childhood or to which they themselves aspired. In addition, a parent of the same sex with a child unwittingly considers himself a model of behavior for his son or daughter and is more rigid in matters of upbringing.

A small child is unusually observant, and, having fixed with a glance the difference in clothing, physique, gait, acts of urination, catching a different timbre of voice, he concludes that the whole world around him is divided into men and women, and is looking for his place in this world. If even at 2-3 years old a child can be persuaded to become a person of the opposite sex for one day, then by the age of 4-5 it becomes increasingly difficult and even impossible. During this period of life, almost all children satisfy their natural childish curiosity, aimed at exploring everything that surrounds him. Involuntarily, he pays attention to his body, its structure and makes attempts to compare his body with the body of his peers, without missing the details. Sooner or later, there is a need to study the structural features of the body of a person of the opposite sex, and, as a rule, this is carried out from 2 to 4-5 years. Moreover, the later this is done, the greater the likelihood of an emotionally negative assessment of what he saw as something shameful and dirty.

Scientists believe that only by comparing the structure of our external genital organs with the structure of the external genital organs of a person of the opposite sex, we are forever affirmed in our awareness of ourselves as a representative of a certain sex.

As a fact of experimenting with one's body, testing and asserting oneself in the chosen field, one should also consider the so-called sexual games of children, more correctly called role-playing games with sexual content. Three to five year old children play "doctor", "mom and dad", etc., where there is an examination of the bodies, which is very exciting for parents watching the intimate games of their children. Usually after 5-6 years, if the child has already “lost” these games and satisfied his deeply intimate feelings, interest in the naked body disappears, at least until puberty.

Another reason that makes parents stay awake at night and turn to doctors for help is children's onanism. Sexopathological practice shows that masturbation is the lot of children who are timid, easily vulnerable, impressionable and, most importantly, lonely, despite the possible presence of relatives. It is precisely stroking oneself in the area of ​​certain erogenous zones that the child finds satisfaction from the lack of warmth, attention of love, the people closest to him, and, first of all, his mother. Therefore, doctors are increasingly finding that child masturbation is not a disease of the child himself (although not always), but an indicator of trouble in the emotional and mental relationships in the family where this child grows up.

Among the many invisible threads connecting the child with the mother, the most important role is played by bodily contact between them, caress in any form. Experiencing attacks of fear and loneliness from time to time, every time we want to make sure that we are loved, not abandoned, needed and desired, and this can only be done with physical contact, a touch of affection coming from the person closest to you.

The human child seeks motherly affection, gaining confidence and suppressing his own fear. An extremely important function of maternal love is to regulate the first infantile games of exploration of animate and inanimate nature. A new, more developed form of love is emerging - love for peers, arising on the basis of curiosity and research activities and reaching its peak in the process of communication, games.

1.2. Gender-role behavior of adolescents

Communication with each other occurs, as a rule, in same-sex groups, those famous street companies through which almost all adults have passed. In these groups, we received not only the most diverse information on any aspect of life, but also tested, consolidated or discarded those masculine or feminine qualities and behavioral styles, without which our communication with the opposite sex was difficult or even impossible. Uniting in games and separating in wars, our heterosexual companies learned the main thing - the ability to communicate with each other. Indeed, before our eyes, with our sometimes direct participation, the most unthinkable scenarios of acquaintances, loves, quarrels, jealousy, separations unfolded. Passing everything we saw and heard through our own system of moral, ethical and aesthetic values, we involuntarily gave our assessment, selecting in our arsenal of future actions with the opposite sex the most fully corresponding to our personality. And the longer this experience turned out to be in our luggage, the wider and richer was the choice of our opportunities to get to know each other and maintain acquaintance. From this, it is quite natural to assume that if a child, for some reason, was deprived of the luxury of communicating with peers, then he lost a lot and it will be quite difficult to restore this gap in the future, because he never became a witness of acquaintances, disappointments, loves of his friends , did not experience all this emotionally for friends, did not give an assessment of one or another style of relations between people of different sexes during contacts. And therefore, the most important and difficult thing that he will have to do is to learn on his own without prompting, without having the positive or negative experience of his friends, to acquire his own experience of meeting, maintaining relationships, especially the first most difficult steps after meeting the person he likes. However, not everyone can do it alone. Experiencing a natural desire to love and be loved, wanting to communicate with a loved one, indulging in crazy fantasies, some do not risk opening up, paying attention to their feelings. Silently sighing and reproaching himself for yet another indecision, a person sometimes experiences more than one love, but remains alone.

Self-affirmation of oneself as a representative of one sex or another almost always occurs fully only in a same-sex group, whether it is a yard company, Sport section or a group of classmates. In these groups, which, as a rule, have a small age difference, the male and female ideal of physical attractiveness and forms of behavior are formed. Living with his group most of his free time, a teenager receives the most intimate information about various aspects of his life, including what concerns the comprehensive relationship between a man and a woman. Usually there are different points of view in groups, and each member of the group is free to choose how to respond to a particular event discussed or experienced by the group. It is important that he becomes not only a participant in purely theoretical disputes, but also an emotional witness various styles dating, courtship, falling in love, quarrels, experiences of group members. This largely contributes to the formation of the personality of the future man and woman, allowing you to communicate with people of the opposite sex based on the experience gained and your own moral and ethical attitudes.

There is no doubt that the microclimate of these groups is very different, even criminal. But even this poses a choice problem for the teenager: either to accept the attitudes of this group, its psychology, or to leave for moral reasons.

The age of 12 is a critical age in many respects. With fluctuations of two years on both sides of this figure, most children enter the age of puberty, and if before this age the assessment of what was happening was on a purely rational level, now the process of growing up is increasingly influenced by sex hormones, sharply exacerbating the emotional side of communication between the sexes.

The desire to love and be loved is a natural desire that has been with us since birth. Love for mother, father, peers is complemented with age by an obscure attraction to persons of the opposite sex. I would like to find a person who understands you, interesting externally and internally. This desire forces us to be internally prepared for a similar meeting, which may occur in five minutes or five years.

1.3. Psychosexual orientations (formation of platonic and erotic libido)

The older the school or yard company of boys or girls becomes, the more often they start talking about the opposite sex, discuss their actions, develop plans for meetings or revenge. Here, the degree of psychosexual maturity of peers is more clearly and clearly manifested, when the views of some are still practically childish, while others show an increasingly mature interest.

Sooner or later, but we all have a need for a friend of the opposite sex. Our fantasies about this, we often do not trust even the best friend, but they are. We fantasize about romantic encounters, walks, conversations, courtesies, and so on. If in his development a teenager entered this stage of further development of a pile of sexuality (the so-called stage of the formation of psychosexual orientations), then its first stage - the formation of a Platonic libido - is characterized by a passion for romantic literature, poetry glorifying the feelings of lovers. What we laughed at 2-3 years ago now arouses genuine interest, makes you worry about the characters, put yourself in their place.

Gradually, a peculiar, individual for each of us standard of the desired “knight” or “princess” is developed, which we consciously or subconsciously begin to look for around us.

There is a very important and for many almost insurmountable stage - getting to know the person you like.

1.3.1. Acquaintance

Each of us has a lot of familiar people of both sexes. These are housemates, and old school friends, and colleagues at work or study. In addition, every new day can lead us to the next acquaintance in almost any place: transport and on the street, at the cinema and at a party with friends. Another regular acquaintance is interesting to us only when we communicate with him, and the next day we hardly remember his name. And here are others... Even many years later, we remember our meeting in detail, again and again extracting from memory every word, every gesture, re-experiencing our state of amazing excitement and joy. And it doesn’t matter at all for what reason, where and when your acquaintance took place. A new acquaintance immediately interested you, and you still don’t know what caused it: his height or the shape of his face, the timbre of his voice or the features of the figure, clothes or smile. Some scientists believe that we are genetically coded to perceive one or another physical trait, whether it be height, shape, shape of ears or nose, eye or hair color. The first charm from the meeting sets us up for further exploration of a new acquaintance. And every new gesture, look, phrase goes through a kind of quality control, there is a “fitting” with that ideal model of that “only” that we all have. Apparently, each of us, as we grow up, communicate with dozens and hundreds of people, gradually develop our own, individual image of a person who is especially interesting to us. From here we "forgive" our new acquaintances and flaws in the figure, and the style of clothing, and the raspy voice, and much more, highlighting those qualities that compensate for the above in your eyes. In such cases, our interest in him increases, and we are not averse to continuing our communication in order to get to know the person better, to obtain the information that interests us. Acquaintance turns into friendship, however, this requires, at a minimum, his consent to this.

Young men, when meeting, nevertheless pay more attention to the features of the girl’s figure, her ability to dress beautifully, the ability to use cosmetics, her neatness, cheerful disposition, sense of humor, and even her ability to dance. Girls are more interested in tall handsome guys, with a confident look, decisive and courageous, with a pleasant voice and a sense of humor.

But not everyone can decide to get acquainted with a person they like. Strict upbringing, lack of friends, dating skills, overt or imagined physical handicaps, character traits in the form of secrecy, indecision, timidity, etc. make you suffer, but never dare to take a step forward. There can be a great many such silent hobbies, and sometimes it becomes a life tragedy.

The more liberated, more self-confident a person is, the more literate and cultured, the easier it is with words and actions to attract attention to oneself, to express one's feelings.

1.3.2. Courtship

Following an acquaintance, there usually comes a period of short-term or long-term meetings, which helps to better assess each other's personal qualities. Experts call the optimal period for courtship from 6 months to 1.5 - 2 years. True, there are some "pitfalls" here. Firstly, with rare and short meetings, the impression of a person usually remains very superficial, and it is easy to be deceived in expectations. After all, it is easier to look gallant and generous, fashionable, cheerful 2 hours a week than to show at least even these qualities all the time. Once upon a time, a wise professor gave parting words to the girls at his lecture. He advised them to let their new acquaintance "speak out". “In a month it will start to recur, and in three months it will become unbearable. Therefore, do not rush to conclusions in 2-3 meetings, no matter how you are fascinated by his charm "

Scientists note several important functions of the courtship period for a prosperous future family life. The first is the accumulation of joint experiences and impressions. Of course, this requires fairly frequent meetings and joint experiences of the same events, noting for oneself a positive assessment of the acquaintance's reaction to them. Often it is to this emotional assessment that spouses turn when recalling their premarital state. The second is a deeper recognition of each other in various situations and the formation of a sense of independence of the “acquaintance” and its “uniqueness”. Frequent meetings in various situations, in various companies help to better understand the character of a person, when sometimes physical beauty and vocal abilities overshadow tolerance, kindness, restraint, empathy, willingness to cooperate, etc.

This stage of acquaintances, meetings, disappointments and new acquaintances does not go smoothly for almost everyone. Sometimes our cooling of feelings for a new acquaintance, on the contrary, may coincide with the growth of his interest in you. Or a series of our acquaintances begins to worry our parents, who reproach us for frivolity, unscrupulousness, etc. But after all, you just show your adherence to principles, defend your desired standard, having the courage to refuse meetings you do not need! It is much worse when, in the name of the peace of mind of our parents, under the threat of a "beloved" or "beloved" to die, we remain. And we will have to pay for this act with ourselves, with our feelings, with our lives.

If you do not dream of meeting him, if there is no feeling of regret that he is not around, when you feel good or very bad, if the thought of his existence does not give you strength and confidence - you do not need him. Nature does not tolerate emptiness, and after a while you will again need to communicate with a new (or previously familiar) person, give and receive signs of attention. By the way, in parallel there can be several such hobbies and even loves. There is a choice of the most worthy, meeting the most important needs of your personality. It is she or he who gradually pushes the others aside, and becomes the main object of your attention.

1.3.3. Love

Falling in love is the intoxication of love. Thousands of poems and sonnets, novels and legends have been written about lovers, describing and glorifying a complex of feelings, without which a person's life is incomplete and incomplete.

Lovers keenly feel the state of each other, often assessing the actions and experiences of the other only in the plane in which he would like, not knowing or not wanting to see the shortcomings that we all have. A lover is not capable of looking with “sober” eyes at the object of his adoration, just as a drunk person cannot soberly assess the situation. Attempts by friends to “open” their eyes to the object of love are doomed to failure in advance, because the lover sees only what he wants to see.

However, falling in love cannot last indefinitely, and after a maximum of 1.5 years (according to psychologists), insight comes or falling in love passes into a more mature feeling - love.

If, during the period of falling in love, there is a break, and only one has fallen in love, then it is accompanied by emotional scenes with tears and requests, threats to die and real suicide attempts. However, after such violent emotions, calm and relief quickly come. Of course, if falling in love does not yet have time to occur, the "growing" of the personality into the personality, and therefore their break, although painful, still does not require "surgical intervention on the soul." The parting of a lover is precisely such a painful procedure, and, like any impact, it invariably leaves a trace. Sometimes these scars affect all subsequent relationships with the opposite sex in the future.

The natural desire of lovers to be alone with the object of adoration, when the hours in the arms fly by like minutes. In the intervals between meetings, a violent fantasy draws unthinkable situations in which, of course, the object of love manifests itself with dignity and becomes even more attractive. In such platonic suffering, erotic fantasies are gradually intertwined, the desire to touch a loved one. So far, these are only fantasies, and the matter may not come to their realization, but they testify to the transition of a person from one state of love - platonic to another, more mature - erotic, filled with reading love literature, searching for appropriate videos, and a passion for talking about love.

Accordingly, dreams can acquire their own specific character.

1.3.4. Erotic dreams.

All people dream. Different. Including those when there is sexual activity in them, sometimes ending even in an orgiastic discharge. Erotic dreams become more frequent with the achievement of puberty, when sex hormones and certain structures of the brain, mutually influencing each other, “give out” erotic “products” to the subconscious level

Often erotic dreams can appear during sexual abstinence and disappear with regular sexual activity. In young men who do not live a sexual life and do not masturbate (or do it rarely), the accumulated sperm tones the psyche, provoking an appropriate dream. It also matters what a person sees in a dream. Many begin to guess about their bisexuality or homosexuality only by the monotonous repetition of the corresponding dreams. In a dream, sexual actions largely repeat real sexual behavior, but there are differences. Basically, in a dream, suppressed, repressed (according to Freud) actions are “played out”, which the individual does not dare to implement for various reasons. Many patients of sexopathology offices even refuse to discuss these dreams with the doctor, "because it is a shame to talk about this debauchery." Some experts believe that all sexual manifestations, for one reason or another, “repressed” into the subconscious and unrealized in reality, return to us in the form of erotic dreams, thereby manifesting our essence. If in men the vast majority of such dreams end in wet dreams, then in women erotic dreams for a long time can contain only very timid and timid actions that do not end in relaxation even in a dream. True, with maturity, erotic dreams become more frequent and suddenly end with a new unusual feeling. Apparently, from that moment on, a woman (girl) becomes capable of an orgasm in reality, and not just in a dream. This is a good prognostic syndrome, and, having "learned" to orgasm in a dream, she, as a rule, is able to achieve it with masturbation, petting, sexual intercourse, although this dissonance may still persist for some time.

1.3.5. Masturbation

Masturbation (synonyms - masturbation, ipsation, masturbation) is self-stimulation of erogenous zones in order to achieve sexual relaxation, which modern sexology refers to one of the surrogate forms of sexual life.

In modern sexology, masturbation has long ceased to be regarded as a bad habit. Studies have shown that it occurs not only in humans, but also in rabbits, dogs, horses, dogs, monkeys, and in males more often than in females. Modern sexology distinguishes the following types masturbation:

1. Frustrated masturbation - when the pleasant sensations of manipulation on the genitals do not end with either orgasm or ejaculation. It is used as a kind of exit for unrest, stress.

2. Early prepubertal masturbation. It appears even before the awakening of sexual feelings (usually before the age of 10) and is characterized by ejaculation without orgasm and orgasm without ejaculation. It is often a "cure for loneliness."

3. Masturbation period of youthful hypersexuality. It begins after the awakening of the libido, as a rule, after the age of 10 and occurs in adolescence in at least 75% of sexually healthy men.

4. Substitutive masturbation. It usually begins after 20 years and always after the onset of sexual activity. The name itself suggests that sexually healthy men resort to it in cases of forced sexual abstinence to relieve sexual tension.

5. Obsessive masturbation. Often repeated during the day. Unlike all others, compulsive masturbation does not stop even after marriage and can become an end in itself. It is more common in mentally handicapped men.

6. Imitative masturbation. The initiator of such masturbation is usually comrades, and almost always this masturbation is "for the company."

It is well known that teenage curiosity and a tendency to experiment in everything, including with their own own body. The awakening sexual desire, regularly reinforced by the voluptuous feeling of filling the genitals, irresistibly pushes the teenager to experiment in them. Having received once a feeling of orgasm, whether it be with wet dreams or a masturbatory act, he is no longer able to give up the desire to get it again and again. Like the previous generations of his predecessors, the teenager enters into an unequal struggle with the temptation to stop masturbating, each time losing this struggle. Once again losing and succumbing to temptation, he again experiences complicated feeling satisfaction and humiliation, pleasant relaxation and remorse. Giving himself a word to stop masturbating and breaking it again, a teenager's sense of self-esteem decreases, thoughts about his own inferiority and fear for the future arise.

In women, masturbation can begin much earlier than in men, and continue throughout life until old age, in parallel with sexual activity. Usually the impetus for this in girls is their own discovery, when touching any erogenous zone causes pleasant emotions. Sometimes such an impetus is the intimate information of girlfriends, watching videos, reading erotic literature. According to A. Kinz, among the American youth he examined, 4% of girls masturbated by the age of seven, 12% by the age of 12, 15% by the age of 13, and 60% by the age of 35.

Chapter II. Sexual disorders imaginary and true.

With the onset of puberty, changes begin that will bring the infantile sexual life into its final normal forms. Sexual attraction was autoerotic before, now it finds a sexual object. Prior to that, his actions proceeded from separate drives and erogenous zones, independent of each other and looking for a certain pleasure as the only sexual goal. Now a new sexual goal is given, for the achievement of which all the partial drives work together, while the erogenous zones are subject to: "the primacy of the genital zone" (obvious growth of the external genitalia - as a sign of manhood). Since the new sexual goal endows both sexes with very different functions, their sexual development takes a different direction. The development of a man is more consistent and more accessible to our understanding, while a woman even has a kind of regression. The guarantee of the normality of sexual life is only the exact coincidence of both currents directed towards the sexual object and the sexual goal, gentle and sensual, of which the first contains everything that remains from the early infantile flowering of sexuality. It's like laying a tunnel on both sides.

The new sexual goal in the man is to separate the sexual products; it is absolutely not alien to the former goal - the achievement of pleasure, on the contrary, the maximum amount of pleasure is connected precisely with this final act of the sexual process. The sexual drive now begins to serve the function of procreation; it becomes, so to speak, altruistic. In order for this transformation to succeed, it is necessary in this process to take into account the original disposition and all the characteristics of the drive.

As in any other case, when new connections and combinations into complex mechanisms must take place in the organism, here too the possibility of painful disturbances appears due to the failure of this new order. All painful violations of sexual life can rightly be considered as developmental delays.

2.1 Sexual disorders

Violation of sexual activity is one of the most common problems with which patients turn to psychologists. There are two factors of sexual dysfunction:

1. Organic disorders. 2. Psychogenic factor.

Organic disorders include diseases of the genitourinary system, lesions of the endocrine glands, lesions of deep brain structures, lesions characterized by spinal localization of the pathological focus (myelitis, multiple sclerosis, tumors, spinal cord injuries, etc.), lesions of higher cortical centers for regulating the function of the bladder and genital functions.

Psychogenic factors, in turn, are divided into endogenous (congenital, constitutional) and exogenous (reactive, situational). Since organic disorders are not within the competence of psychologists, this work will focus on the psychological background of sexual dysfunction.

2.1.2. Psychogenic sexual disorders.

Functional sexual disorders (one of the almost indispensable components of depression) occur in the structure of neurotic states much more often than is commonly thought. Noticeable decline potency is not accidentally considered as almost the most important symptom of depression of the spirit and loss of energy, a “symptom of symptoms”, which is revealed during a targeted study in almost any emotionally unstable patient.

2.1.3. Pollutions.

Pollution refers to the specific symptoms of neurotic conditions with more or less pronounced sexual disorders. Pollutions are sometimes repeated on strictly defined days. Even "waking wet dreams" are possible, arising under the influence of strong emotional arousal (fear, anger, extreme impatience) or transcendental, affectively saturated mental stress without any connection with erotic ideas. Pollution can also occur with a pronounced fear of death, tk. in fact, sexual intercourse is the continuation of life in the offspring's genes, and ejaculation is an integral and (especially in this case) the most important part of sexual intercourse. Massive ejaculation often occurs in suicidal patients, but removed from the loop even before they develop strangulation. Frequent (daily or every other day, and sometimes several times a night even after intercourse) wet dreams are often combined with a noticeable weakening (sometimes complete absence) of an erection or orgasm and complaints of long-lasting feelings of fatigue, weakness, lethargy, heaviness in the head, "apathy for work" and a bad mood.

Even normal or close to normal pollutions often become the object of special anxiety and hypochondriacal fixation of patients experiencing panic fear before the threat of "loss of seed" or serious diseases that cause this phenomenon. The inevitable increase in anxiety in such cases and an even greater decrease in mood, in turn, contribute to a further increase in wet dreams, more and more closing the patient in a vicious circle of psychosomatic disorders developing in a spiral. The longer there are pathological pollutions, the more distinct neurotic disorders, the greater the likelihood of persistent mental impotence.

2.1.4. Coitophobia.

Coitophobia is an obsessive fear of sexual intercourse. There are quite a few reasons to experience the fear of intercourse, and it can appear in both men and women, both before the first intimacy, and subsequently.

Fear stops young men:

Impossibility to break the hymen;

Small penis size;

Inability to satisfy a partner;

Get infected with AIDS or a sexually transmitted disease;

Possibility of lack of erection;

Publicity from the partner with a possible failure;

To appear inexperienced in the eyes of a woman, etc.

Girls may avoid intercourse because of fear:

Pain during defloration;

- "fatal" bleeding after defloration;

Pain during intercourse;

Infections, pregnancy, publicity;

To appear inexperienced, inept;

To be taken by surprise;

Too fleeting or, conversely, prolonged sexual intercourse.

Many are aware of the absurdity of their fears, but they are unable to fight them on their own, and as an escape from the situation - the rejection of sexual life. Here they and their partners need the help of a psychotherapist or a sex therapist.

2.1.5. Aspermatism.

A rather rare violation of male sexual function, when sexual intercourse does not end with the release of sperm, although with other forms of sexual activity (masturbation, wet dreams), ejaculation can be achievable. Sometimes aspermetism is selective, and such a ending accompanies meetings only with a certain partner.

Men with aspermism are often considered supersexual because they able to endure and ensure the duration of sexual intercourse as long as you like. But this is a disease, and they begin to understand this only when the question of procreation arises or the man begins to get bored with “all this sex physical education, it doesn’t end with anything pleasant.”

Of course, the above imaginary and true sexual disorders are far from a complete list. We have considered only those that generate the most myths and misunderstandings among young people.

2.2. Understanding the norm in modern sexology

What is the norm, and what is the pathology? Let's try to understand this complex issue.

The understanding of the norm in modern sexology is based on three of its concepts (Schnabel, 1947):

1. The norm as a measure of value, as an ethical requirement, as a moral postulate. Such norms appeared and were replaced in the process of the historical development of society.

2. The norm as the average value of the frequency of certain manifestations. In this case, what is most common is considered normal, and what is rare is considered abnormal.

3. The norm in the medical and psychological aspect implies a condition necessary for good physical, mental and social well-being, regardless of whether it occurs rarely or often and to what extent it approaches the ideal.

In recent years, there have been changes in the views on the customs, sexual habits of a person within our culture, which has led to the conditional division of the sexual norm into 3 categories: optimal, accepted, tolerant.

The optimal norm includes sexual actions and sexual forms of behavior that are most desirable from an individual and social point of view.

The accepted norm includes actions and sexual forms of behavior that do not cause fundamental objections from society.

The tolerable norm includes actions and behaviors, the assessment of which may be different and depend on the personal, situational and partner context.

It is important that all three categories of the above norm do not require treatment and are the clinical sexual norm. According to these norms, we can judge the pathology or the norm of certain sexual disorders.

Chapter III. Deviant Sexual Behavior

3.1. Homosexuality

Immediately make a reservation that homosexuality is not only the attraction of a man to a man - it is an attraction to people of the same sex. Lesbianism is a synonym for homosexuality, meaning a woman's attraction to a woman.

Scientists around the world are struggling with the mystery of nature: why does a person feel sexual attraction to people of the same sex? What is this? Heredity, illness or promiscuity? When such an attraction is formed.

The first assessment of inversion (synonymous with homosexuality) was expressed in the view that it is a congenital sign of nervous degeneration; this was quite consistent with the fact that medical observers first encountered her in nervous patients or in persons who appeared to be so. This apparently established certainty loses ground from the objection that many people undoubtedly experience similar sexual influences (also in early youth: seductions, mutual onanism), without becoming as a result or permanently inventive. Thus, the assumption arises that the alternative: congenital and acquired - is either incomplete or does not quite correspond to the circumstances present in the inversion.

Neither the position that inversion is innate, nor the opposite, that it is acquired, does not explain the essence of inversion. In the first case, one should find out what exactly is innate in it, if one does not accept the crudest explanation that a person at birth already has a connection of sexual desire with one specific sexual object. Otherwise, one asks whether there are enough various random influences to explain the occurrence of inversion without the fact that something in the individual himself did not go towards these influences. The denial of the last moment, according to our previous instructions, is unacceptable. According to the well-known sexologist I. Kohn, the formation of a homosexual orientation in a teenager has three stages:

From the first conscious erotic interest in a person of the same sex to the first suspicion of his homosexuality;

From the first suspicion of his homosexuality to the first sexual contact;

From the first sexual contact to the confidence in their homosexuality and the development of an appropriate lifestyle.

A failure in the psychosexual development of a homosexual can be suspected even at the stage of choosing a sex role, i.e. from 5 to 12 years old. For still unclear motives, the child chooses, tests, learns the behavior of a person of the opposite sex.

psychologically difficult adolescence for all adolescents in persons with homosexual inclinations is complicated many times over. Experiencing an acute internal conflict, feeling their isolation from their peers, against the background of fear and loneliness, they emotionally suffer in search of a way out. Without understanding their problems, empathy and help from adults during this period, the likelihood of suicide is high.

Thus, it should be said directly that since homosexuality is not recognized as a disease, it is not subject to treatment. Attempts by psychotherapists-sexologists to change a homosexual's sexual orientation are ineffective (although Freud argued that the painful imposing inversion, which causes indignation in the inverted himself, is successfully cured by psychoanalysis or suggestion).

3.2. Bisexualism

Bisexualism is attraction to both men and women.

Scientists distinguish several of these types:

Bisexuality as an experiment at the stage of psychosexual orientations (usually at the age of 14-15);

The alternation of hetero- and homosexual contacts, which are based on either an attempt to “cure” by being close to a person of the opposite sex, or contacts with a person of the same sex, as a kind of prostitution, and attraction occurs to persons of the opposite sex;

Situational bisexuality (thrives in prisons, schools, etc.);

Bisexualism as a result of indifference to the gender of the partner. When your own orgasm is a fetish, regardless of the gender of the partner;

It should be noted in passing that Freud combined two concepts: bisexuality and transsexualism. It would be even more accurate to note that by the word "bisexualism" he understood, in a rough form, "a female brain in a male body", i.e. modern interpretation of transsexualism. But since we are trying to reflect the essence of these concepts in their modern understanding, we will use modern interpretations.

3.3. Transsexualism

Transsexualism is a persistent awareness of one's belonging to persons of the opposite sex, regardless of the correct structure of the external and internal genital organs. It is assumed that the pathology is based on a violation of the sexual differentiation of the brain during pregnancy. From early childhood, such a child feels like a person of the opposite sex and fights with all his might with his surroundings for recognition of this: he asks to be called by a different name, strives to wear clothes of the opposite sex, chooses friends, play, hairstyle, etc. accordingly. The appearance of secondary sexual characteristics is perceived as a catastrophe, as a real mismatch between the body and the mental "I" of a teenager. At this point, the risk of suicide is extremely high. If transsexualism is real, because the desire to change sex is expressed by both homosexuals and mentally abnormal people, then laborious and difficult work begins to rebuild the appearance of a transsexual. After all, exhausted by many years of struggle with themselves and with those around them, transsexuals are looking for help from doctors to create a natural harmony of soul and body.

3.4. voyeurism

Voyeurism is a sexual deviation, an attraction to spying on sexual intercourse or contemplation of the external genitalia of the chosen sex. Most often, spying on intimate relationships is observed in children and adolescents and in their normal psychosexual development. The consolidation of visionism (a synonym for voyeurism) is facilitated by problems in communicating with peers, the inability to establish contact with persons of the opposite sex, persistent fixation in the immature psyche of the child of the seen scene of intimacy, etc. varieties of visionism include passion for striptease, erotic shows.

Sometimes an irresistible desire to see the forbidden pushes the visionist to peep into the windows of hospitals, women's hostels. And although most visionaries are able to have sexual intercourse, but the peeped scene, accompanied by masturbation, brings them incomparably more intense pleasure.

Of course, in this chapter we have not considered all the features of sexual deviations. I just tried to display the most common among the youth. Even with comprehensive information about sexual deviations, it is still quite difficult to determine their nature and establish clear boundaries for the norms of sexual behavior.

Conclusion

The psychosexual development of a teenager depends on what principles our society lives on, and how parents presented their children with information about sex.

Before puberty, it is necessary to prepare a young man or girl for the changes taking place in their body and psyche, even without appropriate questions, explaining that all this is normal, of course, not shameful, that menstruation or wet dream is not a disease, which is natural and interest in persons of the opposite sex, which will be based on this in a further strong friendly family.

If we combine the efforts of teachers, parents, the media, and others, then there will be fewer problems regarding psychosexual development. It's time to stop jumping from one extreme to another. We owe our sexual revolution to Western countries, in particular the United States. And, in my opinion, it was absolutely wrong to adopt the same development model as the United States. This country does not have a centuries-old culture and therefore it is very easy for them to move from sexual freedom to absolute chastity and “virginity fashion”. They do not have centuries of experience in the culture of these issues. And since we were uprooted from established rules and norms, it gave impetus to promiscuity and sexual perversions, rapes, etc. Of course, it is too late to change something, but we, as the future generation, are simply obliged at the level of our family, our children and grandchildren, to bring culture into the sexual education of our children.

List of used literature

1. Gadasina A.D. fruits of prohibition. Teenagers and sex. Book. For the teacher. M.: 1991.

2. Gorbunov V.I., Lyakhovich A.V., Egozina V.I. Erotica in marriage. Doctor's advice on the prevention of sexual disorders. Olbinsk: Olympus. 1990.

3. Kapustin D. Z. Youth sex. Mn .: MP "Editorial office of the newspaper" private detective "", 1997.

4. Kolominsky Ya.L. Know yourself. (psychological conversations with high school students). Mn .: "People's Asveta". 1981.

5. Kon I.S. introduction to sexology. 2nd ed. M.: 1991.

6. Fainberg S.G. Prevention of neurosis in children. M.: "Medicine". 1978.

7. Freud Z. Psychology of sexuality. Mn.: "Prameb". 1993.

8. Schnabel Z. Man and woman. intimate relationships. Per. German

We consider it expedient to first dwell on the fundamental issues of terminology, which cannot yet be considered regulated.

When describing the sexual socialization of a person, the concepts of "sexual" and "sexual" are used. The terms "sex", "sex" (in foreign literature, the terms "genus", "generic" are often used in this sense) reflect any properties (biological, psychological, social, etc.) associated with belonging to the male or female sex. The terms "sexuality", "sexual" describe only those properties and relationships that relate to the genital-erotic sphere (sexual attraction, sexual experiences, sexual behavior, etc.), i.e. everything that is associated with the instinctive need for procreation .

Other important categories of sexual socialization are sexual self-awareness (gender identity, gender auto-identification) and sex-role behavior. According to the definition of J. Money (1972), gender identity is the conscious belonging of an individual to a certain gender, and gender-role behavior is a public expression of gender identity that corresponds to the standards accepted in society and ensures that the individual belongs to a certain gender in the eyes of others.

The above definitions of the main categories of sexual socialization of the individual are not shared by all specialists, which is partly due to the widespread use of the concepts of "sexual", "sexual", "sex-role behavior" not only in medicine (genetics, embryology, sexology, psychiatry), but also in general and social psychology, anthropology, ethnography. We turn to the presentation of the main stages of psychosexual development.

Psychosexual development is one of the components of a very complex system of determining the sex of a person as a whole. The main stages of the process of the formation of human sex are presented by G. S. Vasilchenko (1977) in the scheme, according to which the primary link in the formation of the sex system is the chromosomal (genetic) sex of the organism, which is formed during the fertilization of the egg and is determined by the karyotype. The genetic sex determines the formation of the gonadal (true) sex, identified by the histological structure of the gonads. Under the influence of hormones produced by the gonads (hormonal sex), differentiation of internal reproductive organs(internal morphological sex) and external genitalia (external morphological sex), on the basis of which, at the birth of a child, the obstetric (ascriptive, i.e., assigned) sex is determined for him. These are the main stages of prenatal formation of a person's sex. In the postnatal period, mainly in puberty, the gonads, under the control of the hypothalamic-pituitary system, begin to intensively produce the corresponding sex hormones - this is the pubertal hormonal sex, under the influence of which secondary sexual characteristics appear in adolescents.

It should be noted that even a completely normal biological development, including pre- and postnatal periods, does not in itself make a person a boy or a girl, a man or a woman in the socio-psychological and personal sense. Biological characteristics should be supplemented by psychological gender, which includes gender identification, stereotypes of gender role behavior and psychosexual orientations. Let's trace the main stages of this process.

Almost all ontogenetic characteristics of a personality are not just age, but sex and age, and the very first category in which a child comprehends his own "I" is gender [Kon I. S., 1981].

According to most researchers, primary gender identification (knowledge of one's gender) develops by the age of 3 and serves as the most stable, pivotal element of self-awareness. According to G. Gesell (1930), the majority of children 2 1/2 years old cannot correctly attribute themselves to one or another sex, while at 3 years old 2/3 children do this correctly. However, it is difficult to catch the exact time of the emergence of gender identity, since the only way to determine it is the child's answer to such a seemingly simple question: "Who are you, a boy or a girl?" Naturally, the time of the formation of gender identity determined in this way is influenced by the general intellectual development of the child, which often depends on many factors, including social ones. To change sex during the first year of a child's life, only the parents need to be re-adapted, and such a procedure for a child older than 1 1/2 years is an extremely difficult task, often simply impossible. In this regard, some authors conclude that the formation of gender identity by 1 1/2 years.

With age, the concept of gender identity, while remaining in its essence, changes in scope and content. So, 3-year-old children know, as already noted, their gender, but they still do not know how to substantiate this attribution. By the age of 4, the child clearly distinguishes the sex of the children around him, although he associates it with external, often random signs. Children 3-4 years old admit the fundamental possibility of changing sex, although the question: "Who do you want to be - a boy or a girl?" most children 3-4 years old answer that they want to stay in their field. This indicates that at 3-4 years of age, gender auto-identification is supplemented by such an important concept as gender-role preference. It is noteworthy that at all age stages of human development, preference for one's gender role is more pronounced in boys.

At the age of 6-7, most children finally realize the irreversibility (constancy) of their gender. This moment becomes one of the main stages in the formation of gender identity. It should be noted that throughout the entire period of the formation of sexual self-awareness, the child in games and when questioning adults or peers accumulates enough knowledge about the structure of the genitals in representatives of his own and the opposite sex, the mechanisms of childbirth, etc. Apparently, this knowledge is necessary for the formation of sexual identification, therefore, at the age of 2-5 years, children's interest in their genitals increases. According to R. Sears et al. (1965), half of the children of this age manipulate the genitals. At the age of 4-5 years, games with undressing, the study of the genitals (games of "dad-mother", "doctor") are very frequent, which in essence represent a study (in a way accessible to the child) of sexual differences.

By the time they realize the irreversibility of gender, 61% of girls and 52% of boys have sufficiently detailed information about the difference in the structure of male and female genitalia [Isaev D.N., 1984]. About 30% of children at this age have ideas about childbearing, including the birth act, and every 5th boy and every 10th girl take into account the role of the father in this process.

It should also be noted that the formation of the irreversibility of gender coincides with the rapid increase in gender differentiation of activities and attitudes: boys and girls, on their own initiative, choose different games and appropriate partners, which manifest unequal interests, behavior, etc. [Kon I. S. ., 1981]. This spontaneous sexual segregation promotes crystallization and awareness of sexual differences.

One of the most important periods in the formation of human sexual socialization is puberty, when such a component of psychosexual development as psychosexual orientations develops. Although puberty is largely determined by hormonal factors, sexual-erotic experiences and related behavior (masturbation, genital games, sexual experimentation) and emotional-romantic attachments and loves develop largely autonomously, heterochronously and in different proportions in different people [Kon Yi S., 1978]. The content of adolescents' sexual interests and erotic fantasies is largely determined by their childhood experiences and cultural patterns.

These are the main stages in the formation of sexual consciousness, stereotypes of gender-role behavior and psychosexual orientations.

The entire process of gender formation as a whole can be divided into two periods.

In the first period, from the emergence of chromosomal sex (during fertilization of the egg) to the formation of the gonadal sex, genetically rigidly programmed mechanisms operate, leading to a sequential, strictly fixed in time and irreversible change of one stage of sex differentiation by another. This biological process is based on embryohistogenesis, described in sufficient detail in a number of special publications [Kolesov DV, Selverova NB, 1978; Wunder P. A., 1980, etc.].

The second period covers events from the moment of the birth of a child to the formation of irreversible sexual self-identification, i.e., the conscious attribution of oneself to the male or female sex. Ideas about the determining mechanisms underlying this period of sexual ontogenesis have undergone significant changes over the past 20-25 years. It was previously believed that in the process of the formation of sexual self-consciousness, the main role belongs to biogenetic and hormonal mechanisms, although they act not so hard (the process is not only biological, but also biosocial) as in the prenatal period, but still quite strong. However, studies conducted in the late 1950s on the gender auto-identification of persons with hermaphroditism significantly shook this point of view. In people with the same diagnosis of hermaphroditism, but with an unequally defined sex and, as a result, with a different gender of upbringing, gender identity and gender-role behavior are formed according to the gender of upbringing, and not genetic sex.

In addition, a series of cross-cultural studies have shown that the structure of sex differences is universal for all mankind. In some ethnic communities; its own structure of sexual self-consciousness has been built, often contradicting all biological foundations in our understanding. As a result, in the science of sex differentiation, the significance of biological factors in the genesis of psychosexual development was generally denied, and the main role was assigned to socio-psychological factors. An extreme judgment on this subject was expressed by the American sexologist D. Money (1965), who likened psychosexual development to the formation of a language: "Genetic, innate and other factors predetermine only the very possibility of the development and differentiation of a language, but in no way predetermine whether this language will be English, Arabic In the same way, in the psychosexual sphere, genetic and other innate factors predetermine only the very possibility of differentiation of sex roles and sexual self-identification, but in no way directly predetermine whether the direction of this differentiation will be male or female. However, this approach reflected more emotions in the breaking of an established worldview than a rigorous scientific analysis. Soon, most researchers, including D. Money himself (1969), abandoned the opposition of congenital factors to acquired ones, biological (psychological, genetic) to environmental ones, and thus recognized their inseparable dialectical unity.

Currently, psychosexual development is considered as a complex biosocial process in which the genetic program and culturally provided sexual socialization manifest themselves in continuous unity, being refracted in the self-consciousness of the individual.

In special studies, the main attention is paid to biological factors in psychosexual development: morphism in the structure of some parts of the central nervous system that regulate the functioning of the sex glands and some aspects of sexual behavior, due to their different sensitivity to the so-called pubertal hormones, genital appearance, etc. [Kolesov D.V. , Selverova N. B., 1978; Wunder P. A., 1980].

Significantly less (especially in the literature on clinical disciplines) is the involvement of psychological factors in the psychosexual development of children and adolescents and the main mechanisms of this influence. Meanwhile, a correct assessment of these mechanisms, as already noted, is necessary for therapeutic, prophylactic and pedagogical measures in terms of preventing anomalies in psychosexual development. These anomalies usually begin in childhood and adolescence.

The process of psychological differentiation of sex has not been sufficiently studied. Currently, the psychological mechanisms of gender identification and the development of a gender role in ontogeny are most actively discussed within the framework of the theories of identification, social learning, and cognitive genetic theory.

Identification theory, rooted in psychoanalysis, especially highlights the role of emotions and imitation in the genesis of psychosexual differentiation, believing that the child unconsciously imitates the behavior of members of his own sex, primarily the parent. According to this theory, the child spontaneously and without direct reinforcement (reward) learns not discrete acts of behavior, but a complex integrated model, a model of gender-role behavior. An important factor in the formation of identification is the intimate emotional connection between the child and parents; normal course this process is facilitated by the attention of adults to the child, care for him.

The theory of social learning (gender typification), arising from behaviorism, argues that human behavior, including sexual behavior, is formed mainly due to positive or negative reinforcements from the external environment. According to this theory, boys are encouraged by parents or other adults for behavior that is considered boyish (masculine) in a given society, and condemn them when they behave "womanly"; girls, on the other hand, receive positive reinforcement for feminine behavior and negative reinforcement for masculine behavior. In this regard, children prefer to behave according to the model of their gender, as they are more rewarded for this and less criticized. It has been established that boys prefer behavior typical of their gender and reject atypical behavior, while girls, also preferring behavior typical of their gender, do not reject atypical behavior. In particular, boys describe "masculine" behavior in a negative form ("to be a boy, one must not cry, one must not play with dolls", etc.), i.e., what one should not do, and girls determine the pattern of their behavior in positive concepts about what to do. In the process of sexual typing, the individual first learns to distinguish patterns of behavior of people of different sexes, and then begins to follow them himself. Proponents of social learning theory believe that parents begin to "train" the child immediately after birth, long before the child himself is able to observe and distinguish patterns of behavior. A large role in this process is given to the choice of a name, differences in clothing, sets of toys - all this quite clearly indicates to the child himself and those around him his gender. In the study of the mechanisms of sexual typification, a lot of interesting data was obtained that are of particular importance not only for proving this theory, but also for education in general. In particular, it was noticed that from the first day of a newborn's life, parents behave differently with children of different sexes. So, during the first months, mothers are more likely to be in physical contact with their sons, but they talk more with girls. After about the 6th month, mothers increase physical contact with girls, and they begin to wean boys from physical contact, which contributes to greater independence of sons. Interestingly, immediately after birth, parents perceive girls as softer, more pretty, more like their mother, boys seem more joyful, active.

From the point of view of the cognitive-genetic theory (the theory of self-categorization), the first stage in the process of psychosexual differentiation is the self-determination of the child in the role of a boy or a girl. After cognitive self-determination - primary gender identification - the child positively evaluates those things, actions, forms of behavior and actions that are associated with the role of a girl or a boy. As a result of this, the behavior typical for this sex evokes positive feelings in him, thanks to which self-affirmation occurs [Kolominsky Ya. L., Meltsas M. Kh., 1985]. Psychosexual development through self-categorization involves 3 processes: the child learns that there are two sexes; it includes itself in one of two categories; on the basis of self-determination, the child directs his gender-role behavior. The cognitive-genetic theory emphasizes such an important, in our opinion, fact that with age, the volume and content of the child's primary sexual identification changes in accordance with the change in the basic forms of the child's cognitive organization. The change in the content of gender identity includes the child's assimilation of gender identity, the discovery of the invariance of sex over time, and, finally, the formation of an understanding of the constancy (irreversibility) of sex. Lack of communication with peers, especially in preadolescence and adolescence, can significantly disrupt this side of psychosexual development, leaving the child unprepared for the very difficult experiences of puberty.

Secondly, it is necessary to touch upon the psychology of gender differences. Many researchers are trying to find out what, in a strictly scientific sense (as opposed to current opinions and stereotypes of mass consciousness), are the psychological differences between the sexes, which signs of masculinity and femininity are universally biological, and which are instilled in the course of sexual socialization.

The studies concerned the characteristics of perception, learning, memory, intelligence, motivation, temperament, activity level, self-awareness, cognitive style, emotionality, etc. Firmly established facts turned out to be much less than ideas. It can be considered that girls are superior to boys in verbal abilities, and boys are stronger in visual-spatial representations, they have higher mathematical abilities and they are more aggressive. Reports of differences between the sexes in tactile sensitivity, predisposition to fear and anxiety, in the level of general activity, competitiveness, dominance, suggestibility, subordination require further verification. It has also not been proven that boys better girls cope with more complex cognitive processes, the mastery of which involves previously learned reactions, that their cognitive style is more analytical ..,

Last update: 14/12/2013

The theory of psychosexual development proposed by the famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud describes the development of personality from childhood. And although this theory is famous in psychology, psychologists consider it one of the most controversial.
Freud believed that a person in his development goes through several stages (phases), during which the energy of the Id, aimed at seeking pleasure, is focused on certain erogenous zones. It is this psychosexual energy, or libido, that is, in his opinion, driving force development.
Psychoanalytic theory assumed that in most cases the personality of a child is formed by the age of five. Early experience plays a large role in the development of a person's personality and continues to influence his behavior in later life.
If all psychosexual phases are successfully completed, then the result will be a healthy personality. If some problems are not resolved at the appropriate stage, fixation. Fixation is a constant emphasis on one of the early stages. Until this conflict is resolved, the person will remain at this stage of psychosexual development. For example, a person who is fixated on the oral stage may be overly dependent on others and need oral stimulation through smoking, alcohol, or food.

oral phase

Age range: from birth to one year.
During the oral stage, the interaction of the infant with the outside world occurs mainly through the mouth, so the root and sucking reflexes are especially important during this period. The infant enjoys oral stimulation through pleasurable sensations - gustatory and tactile. Since the child is completely dependent on those who care for him, through this stimulation he also develops a sense of trust and comfort.
The main conflict at this stage is the process of weaning: the child must become less dependent on adults. Freud believed that if fixation occurs at this stage, the person will have problems with addiction or aggression. Oral fixation can lead to problems with alcohol, food, smoking or something else - for example, a person will bite his nails.

anal phase

Age Range: 1 to 3 years old.
Freud believed that during the anal stage, the control of the bladder and intestines is of the greatest importance. The main conflict at this stage is toilet training: the child must learn to control his bodily needs. Developing the ability to control your needs leads to independence and a sense of accomplishment.
According to Freud, success at this stage depends on how parents teach their children to use the toilet. Parental praise and rewards for using the toilet lead to positive outcomes and help children feel capable and productive. Freud believed that positive experience at this stage serves as the basis for the formation of productive and creative qualities.
However, not all parents provide the support and encouragement that children need at this stage. Instead, some of the parents punish, ridicule, or shame the child when it fails. As Freud believed, negative parental reactions can lead to negative consequences. If parents take too soft an approach, anal propulsive personality type in which a person develops extravagance or destructive traits of character. If parents are too strict or begin to teach the child to the toilet too early, develops anal-holding personality type, in which a person grows up strict, tough, pedantic and crazy.

phallic phase

Age Range: 3 to 6 years old.
During the phallic stage, the focus is on the genitals. At this age, children begin to recognize the differences between men and women.
Freud also believed that boys begin to see their fathers as rivals for their mother's affections. Describes these feelings Oedipus complex: The boy wishes to possess his mother and replace his father. However, the child also fears that for these feelings he will be punished by his father: such a fear Freud called the fear of castration.
To describe similar feelings experienced by girls, the term " Elektra complex". Freud, however, believed that girls during this period are jealous of men because they have a penis.
Eventually, the child begins to identify with the parent of the same sex and seeks to possess the other parent. Freud believed that girls cannot overcome envy, and that therefore all women become somewhat obsessed with this phase. Other psychologists - such as Karen Horney - dispute this theory, calling it not only inaccurate, but also humiliating for women. Instead, Horney suggested that men experience feelings of inferiority due to their inability to bear children.

latent period

Age range: 6 years old to puberty (12 years old).
During the latency period, the interests of the libido are suppressed. During this quiet period, the development of the Ego and Super-Ego occurs: the phase begins at the time when children enter school and are more concerned about relationships with peers, hobbies and other interests.
The latent period is a stage of cognition in which sexual energy is still present, but directed to other areas of life - intellectual activity and social interaction. This stage has importance in the development of social and communication skills, as well as self-confidence.

genital phase

Age range: from puberty to death.
During the last stage of psychosexual development, a person develops a strong sexual interest in the opposite sex. This stage of development begins at puberty and continues throughout a person's life.
In earlier stages, the emphasis was solely on individual needs, at this stage there is a growing interest in the well-being of others. If the previous stages have been successfully completed, the personality is harmoniously developed. The purpose of this stage is to establish a balance between different areas of life.

Since sexual behavior and motivation are closely related to age and physical and social development of an individual, the authors of most of the scientific and almost all popular literature on sexology adhere to the age principle: "Children's and youthful sexuality", "Sexuality up to 30", "From boy to man", "Sexuality in adulthood and old age", etc. e. Despite a wealth of empirical evidence, we know little about the development of sexuality. Even the periodization of this process is problematic.

The first difficulty is the multidimensionality of the ongoing changes. Psychosexual development is one of the aspects of ontogeny closely related to the general biological development of the organism, especially with puberty and further changes in sexual function. In this regard, the attention of researchers is attracted by such natural milestones as the stages of puberty, age and characteristics of menarche in girls and first ejaculation in boys, age-related dynamics of hormonal processes and sexual activity in adults, factors associated with childbearing, menopause, weakening of sexual function with age, etc. e. These phenomena can only be understood in the system of the life cycle of an organism. At the same time, psychosexual “development is the result of socialization, during which the individual learns a certain gender role and the rules of sexual behavior. Social factors are of decisive importance here: the structure of the individual’s activity, his relationship with significant others, the norms of sexual morality, age and typical forms of early sexual experimentation, normative definition of marital roles, etc. The psychosexual development of the individual, his sexual behavior and motivation depend on both of these factors, but periodization based on the stages of development of the organism cannot coincide with periodization of the life path personality.

The second difficulty is the wide variability, the multiplicity of types of psychosexual development. The male model of development differs significantly from the female one; the timing and sequence of phases characteristic of one generation may not be suitable for another generation, etc.

The third difficulty is the extreme uneven distribution of scientific data on the psychosexual characteristics of different stages of the life path. Most of the information (biological, social and psychological) is available on adolescent and adolescent sexuality. Much less is known about childhood due to the particular delicacy of this subject and the methodological difficulties of studying it. A more or less systematic study of the sexuality of elderly and old people began only at the end of the 60s, when social gerontology began to develop rapidly. Even worse, paradoxically, is the situation with the study of the cycle of adulthood: although there is a lot of empirical data on the sexual behavior of adults, they are almost always considered statically, without taking into account the holistic development of the personality. Without a holistic concept of personality development, it is difficult to assess the significance of its individual stages. 3. Freud and his followers believed that almost all psychosexual problems and difficulties of an adult are determined by the "traumatic experiences" of his early childhood. As the English writer Hugh Walpole (1884-1941) put it, the tragedy of childhood is that its catastrophes are eternal. Representatives of other currents of psychology consider such fatalism exaggerated. In order to scientifically conduct a dispute, we need not episodic, fragmentary data, but special longitudinal studies covering the entire life path of a person, from birth to death. Until there are no such studies, our ideas about the patterns of psychosexual development must be considered hypothetical. However, this also applies to other sections of developmental psychology.

No matter how fragmented scientific data is, there is no doubt that the psychosexual development of a person, if we leave the prenatal period discussed above, begins with the formation of the infant's gender identity, and adults play a decisive role in this process. Having determined the baby's passport gender, parents and other adults begin to teach the child his gender role, instilling in him what it means to be a boy or a girl. Although the difference in the nature of the socialization of boys and girls is not always conscious, it is very significant. To what extent these differences are due to the goals of education, and to what extent by natural differences in the behavior of boys and girls (for example, the fact that boys are always more active and aggressive) is an open question, but these differences exist everywhere and are somehow refracted in the mind of the child.

Primary gender identity, that is, consciousness of one's gender, is formed in a child by the age of 11/2, constituting the most stable, pivotal element of his self-consciousness. With age, the scope and content of this identity change, including a wide range of masculine and feminine properties.

A two-year-old child knows his gender, but still ~ does not know how to substantiate this attribution. At 3-4 years old, the child already consciously distinguishes the gender of the people around him (intuitively already infants react differently to men and women), but often associates it with a purely outward signs(for example, with clothes) and allows for fundamental reversibility, the possibility of changing gender (in fact, changing the passport gender of a child at this age is already psychologically very difficult). So, a 4-year-old boy says to his mother: “When I grow up big, I will become a dad* I see. Well, when will I be a woman? At the age of 6-7, the child finally realizes the irreversibility of gender, and this coincides with the rapid increase in sexual differentiation of behavior and attitudes; boys and girls, on their own initiative, choose different games and partners in them, show different interests, styles of behavior, etc.; such spontaneous sexual segregation (same-sex companies) promotes crystallization and awareness of gender differences.

How do children define their own and others' gender, is not entirely clear. Already at 3-4 years old, gender is associated with certain somatic (body image, including genitals) and behavioral properties, but the significance attributed to them and the ratio of such features may be different. It is important to emphasize that the child's awareness of his gender role/identity presupposes a certain attitude towards it. Firstly, this is a gender-role orientation, an individual's idea of ​​how much his qualities correspond to the expectations and requirements of a male or female role. Secondly, these are gender-role preferences, which gender role/identity the individual prefers; this is clarified by questions like: "Which would you rather be - a boy or a girl?" and experiments in which the child is forced to choose between a male and female model or role. This problem is especially acute in children with biological sex disorders, for example, with endocrine pathology.

The theory of sexual typification is reproached for being mechanistic. The child in it is rather an object than a subject of socialization. From these positions it is difficult to explain the appearance of numerous individual variations and deviations from sex stereotypes that do not depend on education; moreover, many stereotyped masculine and feminine reactions develop spontaneously, regardless of training and encouragement, and even in spite of them.

The theory of self-categorization to a certain extent synthesizes both approaches, assuming that the child's ideas about the normative behavior for his sex depend both on his own observations of the actual behavior of men and women who serve him as models, and on the approval or disapproval that such actions cause in him. surrounding. However, the vulnerable link in this theory is that the gender-role differentiation of behavior begins in children much earlier than they develop a stable consciousness of their gender identity.

Perhaps these theories should be considered not so much alternative as complementary. They describe the process of sexual socialization from different points of view: the theory of sexual typification - from the point of view of educators, the theory of self-categorization - from the point of view of the child. In addition, the cognitive-genetic theory focuses on the processes of categorization, the theory of sexual typing analyzes the processes of learning and training, and the theory of identification - emotional connections and relationships. As Paul Massen suggests, the ratio of these processes may not be exactly the same at different stages of a child's development. In recent years, there have been other approaches to the study of the psychology of child assimilation of sex roles. For example, it is proposed to consider this process as analogous to the acquisition of a language or any other system of rules (sex role is nothing but a certain rule).

In addition to parents, an extremely important, universal agent of sexual socialization is a society of peers, both of their own and of the opposite sex. Assessing the physique and behavior of the child in the light of their own, much more stringent than adults, criteria of masculinity / femininity, peers thereby confirm, strengthen or, conversely, call into question his gender identity and gender-role orientations. The role of peers is especially great for boys, whose sex-role standards and ideas (what a real man should be) are usually more rigid and overestimated than girls. Is this explained by the fact that masculine features are traditionally valued higher than feminine ones, or by a general biological pattern according to which, at all levels of sexual differentiation, the formation of the masculine principle requires more effort than the feminine, and nature does here more bugs- the question is open. Peers are also the main mediator in introducing the child to the system of sexual symbolism accepted in society, but hidden from children. Violation of the gender-role behavior of the child greatly affects the attitude of his peers towards him: feminine boys are rejected by boys, but they are willingly accepted by girls, and masculine girls are more easily accepted by boys than girls. However, there is one important difference: although girls prefer to be friends with feminine peers, their attitude towards masculine girls remains positive; on the contrary, boyish assessments of feminine boys are sharply negative [Zukker K., 1984]. Lack of communication with peers, especially in pre-adolescence and adolescence, can significantly slow down the psychosexual development of a child, leaving him unprepared for the difficult experiences of puberty.

So far, we have talked about the assimilation of a sex role and the development of a sexual identity by a child. The formation of a sexual role/identity and corresponding psychosexual orientations and preferences is an autonomous side of this process. Unfortunately, even today we know very little about children's sexuality, and even this very term remains unclear. This area has two typical mistakes. The first is an explanation of any childish behavior, one way or another connected with the genitals, by analogy with the behavior of adults and in the same terms. If a child shows his own genitals, this is called exhibitionism; games related to feeling the genitals of a child of the same sex are called homosexual, etc. Although experts understand the conventionality of such names, they cause completely inappropriate fears and thoughts about sexual pathology in the general public, so such terms are best avoided.

The second mistake is made by people who deny any possibility of erotic experiences before the onset of puberty. Although no one considers erections in newborn boys to be indicators of sexual arousal, already very young children of both sexes can experience orgasm-like experiences; according to Kinsey observations, more than half of 3-4-year-old boys and almost all boys who have not reached puberty are capable of this (no data for girls) Irritation and stimulation of the genitals cause pleasant sensations in children and an increased interest in these parts of the body, so pediatricians recommend that parents avoid such touching, choose loose clothing for the child, etc. The most common manifestations of “sexual interests” among preschoolers are questions on this topic and examining strangers or showing their own genitals. Widespread among preschoolers are the so-called sociosexual games (in "daddy-mother", in "doctor"), in which children sometimes show each other their genitals, feel each other, or even imitate sexual intercourse. Games involving showing or feeling the genitals with peers of the opposite sex in their childhood (pre-pubertal) experience were retrospectively recognized by half of the men and about a third of the women from the “purified” sample of Kinsey, with peers of the same sex - 54.4% of men and 34.8 % of women. With a direct survey of pre-pubertal boys (212 people), the numbers rise to 70% in the first and up to 60% in the second option. Coital attempts and oral- or anal-genital contacts are much less common in children; nevertheless, between 13 and 21% of white men and about 5% of women who were interviewed by Kinzie admitted coital attempts in childhood.

Of course, the prevalence of children's genital games and their technique can be significantly different in different social, cultural and ethnic environments; for Kinsey, these indicators significantly correlate with the educational level of the respondents. The terms “coi-tal game”, “homosexual game” themselves are conditional and inaccurate, since they describe behavior without revealing its essence. Motives for participating in such games can be very different. Very often there is nothing erotic about them, they are just "exploratory activities" or ordinary role-playing game, during which the child is mastered with certain social roles and situations.

Nevertheless, the widespread occurrence of such games, even under conditions of strict control, testifies to their psychological regularity, especially if we recall the above ethnographic data and information about "sexual socialization" in primates. The horror of adults when faced with such cases is exaggerated and can traumatize the child. In addition, from these data follows the fallacy of Freud's opinion about the existence of a "latent phase" of psychosexual development, when the child is allegedly not interested in gender problems at all. It's just that a 7-10-year-old child already knows the basic rules of decency and his behavior is qualitatively different from the behavior of a 3-5-year-old. Interest in sex life, like some forms of sexual experimentation, does not disappear, but only changes. This implies the impossibility of an a priori, suitable for all occasions, interpretation of the actions and questions of the child. For the most part, as A. S. Makarenko rightly wrote, the so-called children's sexual curiosity is a common research activity or role-playing game in which the child “trying on” and playing situations unfamiliar to him. If Small child persistently invades the forbidden area or violates the rules adopted in it (for example, shows the genitals or says "indecent" words), then in most cases this is not a sexual, but a social experiment - a violation of the rule as a way to test and learn it; the same logic applies here as in the children's play "shifters" studied by K. I. Chukovsky. However, in such a game there may be erotic moments. They are especially intensified during puberty.

Hormonal shifts really cause changes in the structure of the body and new sexual experiences, and the unevenness of physical and psychosocial development prompts the teenager to rethink and evaluate his gender and sexual identity in all its somatic, mental and behavioral manifestations. Puberty qualitatively changes the structure of sexual self-knowledge, because now for the first time not only the sexual identity of the subject, but also the sexual identity of the subject, including his sexual orientations, is revealed and consolidated.

Common in transitional age anxieties about their bodily appearance, often taking the form of a dysmorphophobia syndrome, are often associated precisely with sexual characteristics or inconsistency of their body with a stereotypical and exaggerated image of masculinity / femininity. Such are the concerns about fullness, insufficient growth, gynecomastia in boys, hirsutism in girls, supposedly a short penis (in addition to large natural variations in the length of the penis, an optical illusion affects: the boy sees his own penis from above, and someone else's - from the side, so he may seem longer), etc. Although the course of puberty depends on the sexual constitution of the individual and even serves as its indicator, hormonal processes, erotic experiences and behaviors (masturbation, sexual experimentation) and emotional attachments and falling in love develops largely autonomously, heterochronously. Their ratio is different for different people, and the content of sexual interests and erotic fantasies of a teenager is largely determined by his childhood experiences, as well as cultural norms.

Since there is a huge literature on adolescent and youthful sexuality, surveyed 376 12-18-year-old American teenagers in 1962, 1965 and 1968. birth, compared 8 autonomous parameters of biological, intrapersonal, interpersonal and sociocultural aspects of development: 1) involvement in dating and sexual activity; 2) self-acceptance, self-respect; 3) feminist sex-role attitudes; 4) deviant communication environment; 5) the meaning of dates and sexual life, what subjective needs they satisfy; 6) communication difficulties of heterosexual communication, lack of sexual competence; 7) intense life events and situations; 8) sexually active communication environment. It turned out that adolescent sexual behavior (factor 1) directly depends only on how important and what kind of subjective significance is attached to it (factor 5). High self-esteem and intense life events increase, and the lack of experience of heterosexual communication reduces the importance of this side of life. Communicative incompetence, in turn, is associated with low self-esteem, which partly depends on stressful life situations. The high sexual activity of a teenager makes it possible to predict his involvement in a deviant social environment and in a sexually active environment, and both of these environments are interconnected.

This study raises serious questions. Some sociologists believe that the growth of adolescent sexual activity is primarily a consequence of the liberalization of sexual morality and a specific youth subculture. Michael Newcomb et al., on the contrary, found that the adolescent's belonging to a deviant and sexually active environment does not allow predicting his sexual behavior, while the latter allows predicting his group and subcultural affiliation. In other words, adolescents choose a communication environment that matches their chosen style of behavior and reinforces it. tense life situations stimulate the search for a deviant and sexually active environment, primarily through practical involvement in such relationships, which in turn reflects the influence of the normative orientations of a more general social environment.

These ideas correspond to the general logic of modern developmental psychology, which requires taking into account the interaction of macrosocial, environmental, individual typological and other factors.

Psychological factors are of decisive importance in assessing such a typical phenomenon of adolescent and youthful sexuality as masturbation. As G. S. Vasilchenko rightly notes, the old dispute about the dangers or benefits of masturbation is largely due to the incorrect formulation of the question. There is not one, but several types of masturbation that have very little in common with each other: childish genital play that is not associated with ejaculation and orgasm; masturbation period of youthful hypersexuality; masturbation as a temporary replacement for normal sexual activity in adults; forced, obsessive masturbation, crowding out other forms of sexual activity, etc.

Teenage and youthful masturbation is statistically the most massive; according to various researchers, 70-90% of men and 30-60% of women pay tribute to her. According to Kinsey, 93% of men and 62% of women were engaged in it, with the "peak" in men in adolescence and youth. According to P. Hertoft, between the 12th and 18th year in Denmark 93% of boys masturbate. According to F. Zigush, G. Schmidt, by the age of 17, 94% of boys and 53% of girls in Germany were masturbating; "peak" falls on 13-15 years, after which masturbatory activity decreases, giving way to other forms of sexual satisfaction. According to Starke and Friedrich, the average age of onset of masturbation for boys is 14.4, for girls 15.6; 14-15-year-old boys masturbate most intensively.

The age at which active masturbation starts and stops is closely related to the age at which sexual activity begins. Both are happening earlier today. According to a survey of German students, in 1966, at the age of 12, 32% of boys and 18% of girls had experience of masturbation; in 1981 - respectively 42 and 31%. By the age of 20, 92% of men (87% in 1966) and 73% of women (46% in 1966) have such experience. The connection between masturbation and the onset of sexual activity (sexual intercourse or petting with orgasm) is clearly visible in the data in Table. 6.

Teenage masturbation serves as a means of discharging sexual tension caused by physiological causes (overflow of seminal vesicles, mechanical irritation of the genitals, etc.). At the same time, it is stimulated by mental factors: the example of peers, the desire to test one's sexual potency, get physical pleasure, etc. In many boys, masturbation causes the first ejaculation, and the earlier the teenager matures, the more likely he is to masturbate. The intensity and frequency of masturbation varies individually, but in men they are much higher than in women. Of the 4 masturbating 16-17-year-old German schoolchildren during the last (before the survey) year, 13% of boys and 53% of girls masturbated once a month or less, 14 and 11% twice, 24 and 16 3-5 times %; 6-10 times - 31 and 8%; 11 - 15 times - 12 and 7%.

The idea that masturbation causes insanity (a milder version of memory and mental impairment), which developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, was based on observations in psychiatric hospitals, where patients often masturbate in front of staff. However, the mentally ill have no moral prohibitions, no other means of sexual satisfaction, and their emotional life is very poor. Obsessive intense masturbation is in these cases not the cause, but the consequence of mental and social loneliness.

The thesis that youthful masturbation reduces the sexual potency of an adult is not confirmed either. Hygienic recommendations to avoid factors that contribute to the sexual arousal of adolescents are well founded, but these dangers should not be exaggerated. As A. M. Svyadoshch writes, “moderate masturbation in adolescence usually has the character of self-regulation of sexual function. It helps to reduce increased sexual excitability and is harmless.

According to G. S. Vasilchenko, the most masturbators are among the sexually healthy and, conversely, the most who have never masturbated are among men with the most severe potency disorders. According to Kinzi and A. M. Svyadosh, women who masturbated before the onset of sexual activity are three times less likely to experience anorgasmia than women who have never masturbated. Some sexologists even recommend masturbation as a treatment for female frigidity and anorgasmia. Of course, there is no causation here. Fear of masturbation is often associated with a general negative attitude towards sexuality and suppression of emotional reactions, which negatively affects the individual's sexual life. There are also psychological problems here.

The orgasm achieved through masturbation is incomplete* in the sense that sexual satisfaction is confined to the subject himself; there is no communicative beginning - an important component of adult sexuality. Mechanical masturbation reinforces in the adolescent's mind the idea of ​​"sex" as something dirty and base, and the availability of this method of satisfaction can inhibit entry into more complex and problematic heterosexual relationships. Masturbation is usually accompanied by vivid erotic images and fantasies in which a teenager can choose any partners and any situations for himself; only 11% of boys and 7% of girls among masturbating 13- to 19-year-old Americans said they never fantasize while masturbating. The conditioned reflex fixation of masturbatory fantasies can create an unrealistic standard in an adolescent, compared with which his real sexual experience, at first almost always associated with certain difficulties, may seem disappointing.

Finally, ancient taboos and notions about the perversity and dangers of masturbation are deeply embedded in the mind of a teenager, so masturbation leaves many teenagers feeling guilty and fearful of the consequences. Trying to fight a “bad habit” (the mildest expression used by adults), a teenager usually, like millions of people before him (but he doesn’t know this), fails. This makes him doubt the value of his own personality, especially strong-willed qualities, reduces self-esteem, encourages him to perceive difficulties and failures in study and communication as a consequence of his "vice". This not only delivers unpleasant experiences, but sometimes contributes to the development of neurotic reactions. Many men tend to attribute teenage masturbation to their adult sexual difficulties, and for women it is often associated with low self-esteem. In fact, during normal development, after the onset of a stable sexual life, masturbation either stops or decreases sharply, remaining one of the possible additional ways of sexual satisfaction.)

In relation to adolescents and young men, it is not the fact of masturbation itself (since it is a mass phenomenon) and not even its intensity (since the individual “norm” is associated with the sexual constitution) that should be alarming, but the transformation of masturbation into an obsession that adversely affects the well-being and behavior of a high school student. However, in these cases, masturbation is more frequent") is not so much the cause of poor social adaptation, but its symptom and consequence. This question is of fundamental importance for pedagogy. Previously, when masturbation was considered the cause of a teenager's lack of sociability, isolation, all efforts were directed to wean him from this habit. The results were usually negligible and even negative. Now they act differently. Instead of telling a teenager how bad it is to be an onanist (which only increases his anxiety), they try to tactfully improve his communicative qualities, help him take an acceptable position in the society of his peers, and captivate him with interesting collective game. As experience shows, this "positive" pedagogy is much more effective.

When discussing the problems of teenage and youthful sexuality, one must always remember two circumstances: the experimental nature of their sexual behavior and the fact that the erotic needs and interests of adolescents often outstrip the development of their emotional and communicative properties and skills, which ultimately determine the possibility of combining physical intimacy with psychological intimacy and understanding. Both of these circumstances are not specific to sexuality. As you know, even the "norms" of mental health in adolescents are somewhat different than in adults. Adolescent sexual experimentation, when viewed outside of a psychological context, also often looks pathological. For example, 22.4% of white men from Kinzie's "purified" sample admitted some kind of sexual contact with animals in their past experience (only 5% of women). Most often this is animal masturbation, but there are also coital attempts; the peak of such activity falls on 12-15 years 1. However, this is not a stable bestiality, but only a temporary way of sexual satisfaction due to the lack of other opportunities or simply out of curiosity.

Significantly more often than is commonly thought, there are sexual contacts between siblings (i.e., between brothers and sisters) 2. In a survey of American college students (about 800 people) with brothers and sisters, such contacts range from relatively innocent genital games to sexual The act was recognized by 15% of girls and 10% of young women. In 74% of cases, these were heterosexual, and in 26% homosexual contacts (16% between brothers and 10% between sisters). 40% of respondents were younger than 8 years old at the time of the event, but in 73% of cases at least one of the partners was older than 8 years, and in 35% of cases the respondent was older than 12 years. For a third of the respondents, such an experience was one-time and never repeated, for others such contacts were repeated; 27% of the respondents continued them during the year. The influence of this experience on further psychosexual development is apparently ambiguous: one third of the respondents perceived it positively, the second negatively, and a third indifferently. However, older brothers and sisters, most often teenagers, often (a quarter of all cases) use violence against younger ones. This increases the possible psychological trauma, especially since, as a rule, children do not tell anyone about this. According to other American data [Martinson F., 1984], sexual games and other sexual contacts between brothers and sisters were in 10% of cases; in boys, 57% of these contacts are hetero- and 43% homosexual, in girls, respectively, 73 and 27%.

Homoerotic feelings and contacts, which will be discussed in the last chapter of this book, present a particularly difficult problem of adolescent sexuality. However, the stabilization of sexual orientation is not the only task of psychosexual development in adolescence. An equally difficult task is the formation of the ability to love, which involves the combination of sensuality and tenderness. Still 3. Freud noted that in the mind of a teenage boy, sensual-erotic attraction and the need for psychological intimacy and warmth are first separated, so that crude, devoid of any spirituality, erotic fantasies often coexist with a dream of tender and sublime love, in which there is nothing sexual.

The writer V. Veresaev, recalling his high school love for three sisters at the same time, wrote: “This is what strikes me in this love. Love was pure and chaste, with a gentle, shy smell, such as comes from meadow flowers in the morning in a quiet hollow, overgrown with hazels around. Not a single sensuous thought stirred in me when I thought of the Konopatskys. These three girls were for me bright, incorporeal images of rare beauty, which could only be admired. And in the gymnasium, among many comrades, there were cynical conversations that roughly reduced all love to sexual intercourse. Although the future writer did not speak in such a tone about his feelings, he nevertheless "listened carefully to jokes and obscene songs." “I was depraved in my soul, looked with lust at beautiful women whom I met on the streets, I thought with bated breath - what an inexpressible pleasure it would be to hug them, greedily and shamelessly caress. But all this muddy stream rushed past the images of the three beloved girls, and not a single splash fell on them from this stream. And the dirtier I felt in my soul, the purer and sublime was my feeling for them.

Such a duality of feelings, due, on the one hand, to the inconsistency of cultural norms (“ pure love” as opposed to “dirty sex”), and on the other hand, the difficulties of psychosexual development, is also characteristic of modern adolescents and young men. An excellent illustration is the story of Yuri Vlasov "White Pool". His hero, a cadet of a military school, dreams of great, all-encompassing love and at the same time suffers from his sensuality and amorousness: “I am a man without will. I have no firmness in character. Women are a shameful weakness. A real man must know his business, serve him. Women are not able to distract him. It is in weak, flabby people that all interests are in women. And what does a woman mean anyway? It's depraved, disgusting to talk about many women at once. There must be a name that I will idolize. I will meet one, love one and never see anyone but her. And I? Me?.. The thought that I dare to think about kissing upsets me. Why am I so spoiled? Why were Nadenka's touches so desirable? Why am I raving about them? .. "

The eternal themes of school debates - how to distinguish love from passion, is it possible to love three people at the same time, etc. - are not really funny at all. They excite not only boys, but also girls. Before me is the diary of a Leningrad schoolgirl (now an adult). Its central theme is the unrequited love for a classmate that has been stretching since the 6th grade. In the 8th grade, next to this feeling, a completely different thing arises for a short time: “Vitka is the strongest boy from our class and the best athlete. And now I suddenly had a strong desire to hug him, lean against him ... I did not feel such a feeling for Sasha. I wanted to be with him always near, but not this. Of course, I dreamed a lot about caresses, but I always dreamed about it when I was alone. When I was with him, I completely forgot about it. With Vitka - on the contrary. This feeling arises when we sit close to each other or when I touch his hand. At home, I never think about it. Today seems to be the first time... What should I do? After all, it’s just disgusting when you feel this way for a person you don’t love at all. ”

Pedagogy has traditionally taken care of suppressing sensuality in adolescents by tabooing bodily experiences, “dirty talk,” etc. However, discussing taboo topics with peers not only helps the teenager get information that adults refuse him, but also realize the naturalness of his experiences and partly defuse their tension, ease the fear with laughter. Disgusting as adolescent obscenity is, in a way it serves the same function as adult culture's "laughing sexuality." Teenage boys who are irresistibly drawn to talk about these topics do not necessarily grow up emotionally defective. Difficulties of a psychosexual order are perhaps more common among those who stand aloof, whose erotic experiences do not find verbalization and therefore go deep and become fixed.

Unable to accept their own emerging sexuality, such adolescents unconsciously try to isolate themselves, hide from the “facts of life” with the help of psychological defense mechanisms. "One of them, described in detail by Anna Freud, is asceticism, an emphatically contemptuous and hostile attitude towards any sensuality that seems to a teenager base and dirty. His ideal becomes not just control over his feelings, but their complete suppression. Another typical teenage defensive attitude is intellectualism. If the "ascetic" wants to get rid of sensuality, since it is "dirty", then the "intellectual" finds it “uninteresting.” Although the requirements of moral purity and self-discipline are in themselves quite positive, their hypertrophy entails artificial self-isolation from others, arrogance and intolerance, behind which lies the fear of life.

No morally responsible adult would deliberately tease and incite teenage sexuality, but its natural manifestations should not be too harshly tabooed. This can cause the opposite effect - a secret and therefore painful obsession with forbidden "sex" or an irrational fear that will negatively affect the sexual life of an adult. Many psychosexual disorders are rooted precisely in the mistakes of sex education.

However, healthy sexuality involves not only the acceptance of one's own sensuality and bodily self, but also the development of a whole system of moral and communicative qualities and skills that can be acquired only in practical communication with other people. A. S. Makarenko was deeply right when he wrote that human love“cannot be grown simply from the bowels of a simple zoological sexual desire. The powers of "amorous" love can only be found in the experience of non-sexual human sympathy. A young man will never love his bride and wife if he did not love his parents, comrades, friends. And the wider the scope of this non-sexual love, the nobler will be sexual love.

According to K. Starke and W. Friedrich, sexual satisfaction and mental well-being of an adult largely depend on the moral and psychological atmosphere in which his childhood proceeded. Trusting relationship with parents, especially with the mother, the general emotional looseness and openness of family relations, the tolerant, secular attitude of parents to the body and nudity, the absence of strict verbal prohibitions, the willingness of parents to openly discuss with children the delicate problems that concern them - all these factors facilitate the child's formation healthy relationship to sexuality. However, they in turn depend on the set sociocultural conditions: the educational level of parents, the moral principles they learned in childhood, and their own sexual experience, as well as the general value orientations of culture, which consciously or unconsciously equal individual family and domestic relations, verbal prohibitions, bodily canon, etc. Ignore these historical, above all national, differences and trying to break them by force is senseless and dangerous.

In addition to family conditions, an important factor psychosexual human development is the experience of many-sided, from early childhood, communication between boys and girls. Both experiments with animals and numerous observations of children show that the communicative properties of a person, her ability for emotional empathy and spiritual openness largely depend on. friendly relations with members of the opposite sex in childhood. No need to be afraid of childhood and teenage loves. Although they sometimes present a lot of trouble for adults, in the long run, the absence of such contacts is much more dangerous.

Despite all the democratization of the relationship between boys and girls, psychologically they are not at all as elementary as it sometimes seems to adults. The modern courtship ritual is simpler than the traditional one, but it is not codified anywhere, which creates normative uncertainty. It is characteristic that most of the questions asked by adolescents and young men are not so much about the psychophysiology of sexual life, the complexity of which they are not yet aware of, but about its normative aspect: how one should behave in a situation of courtship, for example, during a date, when it is possible (and necessary ) kissing, etc.

The preoccupation with the ritual side of things is sometimes so strong that young people remain deaf to each other's feelings, even their own feelings recede before the question of whether they are acting “rightly” from the point of view of the norms of their gender and age group. Courtship is a game by rules, which, on the one hand, are very rigid, and on the other, rather vague. Only those who have already mastered them or who are completely absorbed in love can not care about these rules. The first is given by experience, the second - by the depth and maturity of feeling.

This applies not only to the ritual of acquaintances, dates, kisses, but also to the most intimate intimacy. The chronological distance from acquaintance and falling in love to sexual intimacy among today's youth is much shorter than before. For example, among German (GDR) boys and girls interviewed by K. Starke, the simultaneous beginning of love and sexual relations with a future spouse / was recorded in 5%, with an interval of 1 month - in 13%, up to a quarter of a year - in 29%, up to six months - 22%, up to a year - 19%, more than a year - 12%. For 40% of the young people surveyed by K. Starke, the first love ended in intimacy (for 50%, the first love remained chaste, and 10% began sexual activity even before real love).

However, regardless of the motivation and moral side of the matter, sexual initiation, that is, the first sexual intimacy often resembles an exam. Although this event is anticipated in dreams and, as a rule, it is preceded by some preparation (petting, etc.), it is often associated with psychological difficulties. An inexperienced young man is sometimes afraid of failure (lack of erection or premature ejaculation), a girl is not sure of her sexual attractiveness, both can be shocked by unusual bodily odors, seminal fluid and vaginal moisture are sometimes perceived as “dirt”, etc. The abundance of unfamiliar sensations and the situation itself "checks", "tests" make young people listen more to their own experiences than to the feelings of a partner, which does not contribute to self-forgetfulness.

According to traditional norms, the leading role in sexual initiation belongs to a man who “teaches” a woman about sex/* forcing female body"sound". In the last century, when men, at least from the ruling classes, had their first sexual experience in brothels or with older women, and then passed it on to their young, and uninformed wives, this was mostly the case. (Today, sexual initiation occurs more often among peers who are equally inexperienced. In the future, young men try to exaggerate, and girls try to hide their sophistication. However, the experience of masturbation or short-term sexual contact does not yet make a boy a man. Not knowing the characteristics of female psychophysiology, he expects reactions similar to his own. In this the girl is in the same position, who must, in addition, hide her desires so as not to put her partner in the position of a “student” that is offensive to his manhood.From this follows a greater need than in the past for systematic, including sexological, preparation of young people for marriage.

The experience of the first sexual intercourse, like all other human experiences, the highest degree individually, generalizing them is very risky. For example, many are convinced that defloration is always very painful; in some girls, the expectation of pain causes panic fear. Meanwhile, a survey of 130 American students showed that 32.3% experienced severe pain during the first intercourse, 40 experienced moderate pain, and 27.7% did not feel any pain. In some (39.2%), the pain lasted several minutes, in others (13.1%) - less than an hour, in others (10%) - several days. At the same time, contrary to popular belief, these pains depend much less on the age, sexual sophistication and tenderness of a man than on their own. psychological attitudes and, possibly, the anatomical and physiological characteristics of a woman. These data are insufficient for any practical conclusions; the expectation of pain in some cases can increase, and in others - reduce pain, but the problem itself deserves serious attention from gynecologists.

The subjective assessments of the first koi-tal experience are also very different. According to Starke and Friedrich, 81% of men and 51% of women rated their first sexual intercourse quite positively, 11% of men and 18% of women found it not particularly successful, and a third of women even found it unpleasant. This can be explained by both stable personal and random situational reasons - the level of expectations, emotional mood, the nature of the relationship and the behavior of the partner, the moral and aesthetic assessment of what is happening, the external environment, etc.

Since teenage and youthful sexuality gives parents and teachers a lot of worries, the early (by what standards - usually not specified) onset of sexual activity is associated in everyday consciousness with various negative phenomena - poor academic performance, crime, alcoholism, neuropsychiatric disorders, etc. Such a connection does exist. For example, according to A. Vener and C. Stewart, the overall level of sexual activity among American adolescents is statistically significantly correlated with such actions as theft, carjacking, vandalism and violence, and to a lesser extent also with the use of soft drugs, smoking, alcohol and hard drugs (deviant actions are named in order of closeness of their connection with sexual activity) . P. Miller and W. Simon also discovered the connection between the coital experience of adolescents and their participation in delinquent acts. Early intercourse and premarital cohabitation are significantly correlated in American youth with drug use, in particular marijuana. However, are such dependencies universal and what is their causal relationship?

Anna Freud
Sigmund Freud
Karen Horney Erich Fromm
Carl Gustav Jung
Melanie Klein
Heinz Kohut
Jacques Lacan Otto Rank
Harry Stack Sullivan

Psychosexual development(English) Psychosexual development) - a theory formulated by Sigmund Freud, explaining the development of personality in terms of changes in the biological functioning of the individual. The social experience at each stage presumably leaves its mark in the form of attitudes, personality traits, and values ​​acquired at that stage.

Stages of psychosexual development

The development itself is divided into five clearly defined phases:

• 1. oral phase(0 - 1.5 years) - the first stage of childhood sexuality, in which the child's mouth acts as the primary source of satisfaction in the process of sucking and swallowing. It is characterized by cathection (concentration) of most of the energy (libido) in the mouth area.

At this time, the baby experiences a clear pleasure when sucking not only the breast, but also other objects that imitate the breast (nipple, fingers, toys).

The mouth is the first area of ​​the body that a child can control.

During feeding, the child is consoled with caress, swaying, persuasion. All these “side” rituals help to reduce stress, that is, they are associated by the child with the process of feeding (pleasure).

• 2. anal phase(1.5 - 3.5 years) - the second stage of child sexuality, where the child learns to control his acts of defecation, while experiencing the satisfaction of exercising control over his body. During this period, the child is accustomed to cleanliness and use of the toilet, the ability to restrain the urge to defecate. The emergence of problems in the relationship between the child and parents (when, for example, the child refuses to poop in the pot out of principle, and then poops in his pants, feeling satisfaction because he “annoyed” his mother) can lead to the development of the so-called “anal” in the child. character", which manifests itself in greed, pedantry and perfectionism.
• 3. phallic phase(3.5 - 6 years) - the third stage of child sexuality. At this stage, the child begins to explore his body, examine and touch his genitals; he has an interest in the parent of the opposite sex, identification with the parent of his own sex and instilling a certain gender role. With a problematic passage of the stage, the child may develop an oedipus complex, which during adult life can lead to identification with a different gender or problems in relationships with partners. It is characterized by an increased interest in the genitals, which, in particular, is expressed at the beginning of masturbation at this particular age. The main symbol of this period is the male sexual organ, the phallus, the main task is sexual self-identification. The boy overcomes the unconscious attraction to the mother (Oedipus complex), the girl - to the father (Electra complex). Thus, the boy seeks identification with his father, the girl with her mother. The phallic phase is replaced by a latent one.
• 4. Latent phase(6 - 12 years) - the fourth stage of child sexuality, characterized by a decrease in sexual interest. The mental instance of "I" completely controls the needs of "It"; being divorced from the sexual goal, the energy of the libido is transferred to the development of universal human experience, enshrined in science and culture, as well as to the establishment of friendly relations with peers and adults outside the family environment.
• 5. genital phase- the fifth stage, the final stage of Freud's psychosexual concept. It is characterized by the fact that at this stage mature sexual relations are formed. Achieved during adolescence.

Freud's main thesis was that the early sex difference of children is polymorphic, and that a strong propensity for incest develops and the child must use or sublimate this in order to develop healthy adult sexuality.

see also

Literature

• Freud Z. Psychoanalytic studies / Compilation by D. I. Donskoy, V. F. Kruglyansky; Afterword V. T. Kondrashenko; Hood. region M. V. Drako. - Minsk: Potpourri LLC, 1999., - 608s. ISBN 985-438-121-8.

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See what "Psychosexual Development" is in other dictionaries:

Psychosexual development- See Freud. Psychology. A Ya. Dictionary reference book / Per. from English. K. S. Tkachenko. M.: FAIR PRESS. Mike Cordwell. 2000... Great Psychological Encyclopedia

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Books

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