Polymorphous+Perversity

Mike Lidge

**Polymorphous Perversity ** ==== Polymorphous perversity is a [|psychoanalytic] term for human ability to gain [|sexual gratification] outside [|socially normative] sexual behaviors (Bass, 2007). [|Sigmund Freud] used this term to describe the normal sexual disposition of humans from infancy to about age five. For Freud, "perversion" is a non-judgmental term. He used it to designate behavior outside socially acceptable norms. ====

**Freud’s Theory and Infantile sexuality **
Sigmund Freud theorized that humans are born with unfocused sexual [|libidinal] drives, deriving sexual pleasure from any part of the body (Meloy, 2002). The objects and modes of sexual satisfaction are multifarious, directed at every object that might provide pleasure. Polymorphous perverse sexuality continues from infancy through about age five, progressing through three distinct developmental stages: the [|oral stage], [|anal stage] , and [|phallic stage] (Bass, 2007). Only in developmental stages do children learn to constrain sexual drives to socially accepted norms, resulting in adult [|heterosexual] behavior focused on the genitals and reproduction. Freud taught that during this stage of undifferentiated impulse for sexual pleasure, [|incestuous] and [|bisexual] urges are normal. Lacking knowledge that certain modes of gratification are forbidden, a polymorphously perverse child seeks sexual gratification wherever it occurs. In the earliest phase, the oral phase, the child forms a [|libidinal bond] with the mother via sexual pleasure gained from [|sucking the breast] (Milne, 2008). Infantile sexuality is mostly in the form of perversion, or as Freud terms it, a polymorphously pervert. With the pleasure principle dominating, infants seek to find pleasure in whatever forms, in any symbolic substitution and in any direction, hence the term polymorphously pervert. This is coupled with another characteristic of the infantile sexuality, which is the auto-erotism, where the infant finds the pleasurable stimulation from their own body, without external object (Milne, 2007). **Infantile Sexuality and the Oral Phase ** The oral phase of the infantile sexuality corresponds to the period from birth to about one and a half years old. During this period, the infant still cannot distinguish between itself and the external world, having only been out of its mother ’ s womb for a short period. The erotogenic zone, which is the term given to an area of bodily organ that is susceptible to stimulation of sexual impulse, in this period, is the mouth. The sexual activity is not yet separated form the ingestion of food so the pleasure of sucking the milk from mother ’ s breast derives from the pleasure to satisfy its hunger (Milne, 2008). At the same time, it satisfies its libido which is the term for sexual desire. It is the time when an infant learns about its dependence on the external world, about its need to be fed by something external and the deprivation of satisfaction. The object of sexual satisfaction and self-preservation (i.e. eating, drinking) is therefore the same. The oral phase is also the time an infant learns to find pleasure from its own body in order to achieve satisfaction independently. Since the first erotogenic an infant finds is the mouth, it then starts an activity such as thumb sucking. In fact, any object can be the object of satisfaction, and it will try to grab these objects to the mouth for sucking. The pleasure obtained from the action leads to a sleep or motor reaction, which is claimed by Freud to be the same as in the nature of orgasm in the adults ( [|www.credoreference.com], 2006). Later in adult life, this stage of development can still exist along with the more highly developed one and manifests in the act of seeking the lips of another person in kissing. Even though eating and drinking are still activities in which sexual impulses are generated but they are much weaker. For many children, combining with the finding of pleasure from rubbing sensitive organ, this is one of the possible first steps towards masturbation (Meloy, 2002). If regression occurred, the manifestation of this phase will be in the form of addiction or a neurosis which appears as a psychomatic disturbance with symptoms in the mouth or digestive system of the adults. This form of neurosis caused by the conflict of the guilty feeling of performing an oral sex and the desire for oral sexual impulses derived from the oral phase of infantile sexuality (Meloy, 2002).

**Infantile Sexuality and the Anal Phase ** The anal phase corresponds to the following period when an infant is one and a half to three and a half years old. During this period, an infant becomes more independent. It is the period when parents are the authority determining when the infants should defecated as they try to discipline their infants. Having found a new erotogenic zone, the anus, which gives a pleasurable sensation when the faeces are let go, the child often disobeys and holds back the faeces when put on the pot ( [|www.credoreference.com], 2006). The accumulation produces a violent muscular attraction with as much pain as pleasure and this habit is usually found in a child. The distinction into the masculine and the feminine is not yet developed but rather as the active and the passive. The object of satisfaction here is not identical for the active and the passive unlike the case of oral phase. The active wants to have a control of its own and to be the authority whereas the passive has to submit to the authority ( [|www.credoreference.com], 2006). The anal phase can manifest itself later in adults in authoritarian and rebellious personality.

**Infantile Sexuality and the Phallic Phase ** The genital or phallic phase corresponds to the period of three and a half to six years old. In this period, the children become aware of the difference between the sexes. The girl will notice what they do not have and the boys learn that the girls do not possess what they have. However, initially in the mind of children, the polarity is not yet distinguished as male and female but rather as possession of a penis and castrated condition. Combining with the threat of punishment from the parents when they are seen playing with their genitals, the boys will seriously fear of castration, thinking that some unworthy girls have been punished by being castrated. On the other hand, girls become envy of the boys for what they have. This is termed by Freud, the penis envy which leads the girls to blame their mothers for not giving them penises and hence transfer the affection to their fathers instead.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Latency Period and Maturity ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">After the three development stages have taken place, the period of infantile sexuality is followed by the latency period (6 to 11 years old) when children get educated according to the ways laid down by the civilized society. The feeling of shame, disgust, morality and pity are here developed into their ego, or in another word, consciousness, to impede the sexual instincts (Kristeva, 2007 In adults, the polymorphousness even extends to the object, which is external and symbolic. Fetishism occurs where a person’s sexual desire is attracted by a particular object, and is one of the consequences of this polymorphousness during childhood (Bass, 2007).

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**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">R ****<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">eferences **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Bass, A. (2007). //Postmodern Culture//.The Mystery of Sex and the Mystery of Time: An Integration of Some Psychoanalytic and Philosophical Perspectives. Vol. 18, (1)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Meloy, J. Reid (2002). //Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic//. Vol. 66 Issue 3, p273, 17p

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Milne, Anna-Louise. (2008). //Romanic Review//. Vol. 99 Issue 1/2, p103-118

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Kristeva, Julia//.// (2007). //Psychoanalytic Review//. Vol. 94 Issue 5, p715-725, 11p

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Polymorphously Perverse Theory. (2006). In //Elsevier's Dictionary of Psychological Theories//. Retrieved from [|http://www.library.illinois.edu/proxy/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2F] [|www.credoreference.com/entry/estpsyctheory/polymorphous_perversity_theory]