“Thumb-sucking appears already in early infancy and may continue into maturity, or even persist all through life. It consists in the rhythmic repetition of a sucking contact by the mouth (or lips). There is no question of the purpose of this procedure being the taking of nourishment. A portion of the lip itself, the tongue, or any other part of the skin within reach—even the big toe—may be taken as the object upon which this sucking is carried out. In this connection a grasping-instinct may appear and may manifest itself as a simultaneous rhythmic tugging at the lobes of the ears or a catching hold of some part of another person (as a rule the ear) for the same purpose.”
The sucking of thumbs is a depiction of sexuality in children. In the course of sucking, a child may end up sleeping because they are utterly absorbed into the sucking. Besides, the sucking offers sensations which are comparable to orgasm. Freud explains that the sucking encourages children to embrace masturbation. Accordingly, the correlation between thumb sucking and infantile sexuality is strong.
“ If children at this early age witness sexual intercourse between adults—for which an opportunity is provided by the conviction of grown-up people that small children cannot understand anything sexual—they inevitably regard the sexual act as a sort of ill treatment or act of subjugation: they view it, that is, in a sadistic sense. Psychoanalysis also shows us that an impression of this kind in early childhood contributes a great deal towards a predisposition to a subsequent sadistic displacement of the sexual aim.”
Exposing children to sexual intercourse impacts their psychology. Performing sex before children, while assuming that they would not understand it, is flawed, because beholding the sexual scene makes them view it sadistically and it impacts their later approach to sex. Once the children observe that sex involves intimate organs, they use urination and defecation as a way to unravel the ambiguity of sexual intercourse. Through urination and defecation, the children imagine that they would experience the same feelings as those of adults who they witnessed having sex.
“We are all familiar with the fact that children feel a need for a large amount of active muscular exercise and derive extraordinary pleasure from satisfying it. Whether this pleasure has any connection with sexuality, whether it itself comprises sexual satisfaction or whether it can become the occasion of sexual excitation—all of this is open to critical questioning, which may indeed also be directed against the view maintained in the previous paragraphs that the pleasure derived from sensations of passive movement is of a sexual nature or may produce sexual excitation. It is, however, a fact that a number of people report that they experienced the first signs of excitement in their genitals while they were romping or wrestling with playmates—a situation in which, apart from general muscular exertion, there is a large amount of contact with the skin of the opponent.”
Freud suggests that muscular exercising activates the sexual instinct. Movements of the muscles and skin contact with other playmates contribute to erotic excitation. Sexuality and sexual desires do not exist in isolation; they are activated by other body parts and muscles. Therefore, if children derive pleasure from muscular exercises, then they are bound to seek them often for the exercises meet their sexual needs. Excitements attributed to skin contact with others encourage romping.
"No one who has seen a baby sinking back satiated from the breast and falling asleep with flushed cheeks and a blissful smile can escape the reflection that this picture persists as a prototype of the expression of sexual satisfaction in later life."
Sigmund Freud's quote emphasizes the psychoanalytic idea that early experiences significantly shape adult sexuality. He links the satisfaction of a breastfeeding baby to a prototype for sexual satisfaction in later life, suggesting unconscious associations between infancy and adulthood. However, this perspective has faced criticism for oversimplifying the complexities of human sexuality, overlooking cultural and individual variations, and not accounting for the multitude of factors that influence adult desires and behaviors.
"In human beings pure masculinity or femininity is not to be found either in a psychological or biological sense."
Freud's view that "pure masculinity or femininity is not to be found either in a psychological or biological sense" acknowledges the complexity of gender. Individuals blend masculine and feminine traits psychologically and exhibit a spectrum of biological characteristics. Sociocultural influences shape gender roles. Contemporary understanding embraces diverse gender identities, reflecting the fluid and multifaceted nature of human identity. This departs from rigid, fixed definitions of pure masculinity or femininity.
"Owing to the oppositional relation existing between culture and the free development of sexuality, the results of which may be traced far into the formation of our life, the problem how the sexual life of the child evolves is of very little importance for the later life in the lower stages of culture and civilization, and of very great importance in the higher."
This quote highlights the complex relationship between culture and sexuality. In societies with permissive sexual norms, a child's early sexual development has limited impact on their later life, while in cultures with strict norms, it becomes crucial. This underscores the lasting influence of cultural repression on human development and emphasizes the need to consider cultural contexts when studying sexuality and psychological development.
