Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex

Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)
Translated by Abraham Arden Brill (1874 - 1948)

In this little book Freud discusses three areas of human sexuality:
1. Sexual perversions or aberrations. In this essay, Freud concludes that "a disposition to perversions is an original and universal disposition of the human sexual instinct and that...this postulated constitution, containing the germs of all the perversions, will only be demonstrable in children“.

2. His second essay on "The Infantile Sexuality", argues that children have sexual urges, from which adult sexuality only gradually emerges via psychosexual development. Looking at children, Freud identified many forms of infantile sexual emotions, including thumb sucking, autoeroticism, and sibling rivalry in childhood.

3. In his third essay, "The Transformations of Puberty", Freud formalized the distinction between the 'fore-pleasures' of infantile sexuality and the 'end-pleasure' of sexual intercourse. He also demonstrated how the adolescent years consolidate sexual identity under the dominance of the genitals in puberty.

Originally published in 1905, Freud added significant insights over the next three editions to increase the length to about double its original size. This is the third and last edition, published in 1920. (Summary by Phil Chenevert and Wikipedia)

Genre(s): Psychology

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 I. THE SEXUAL ABERRATIONS: Deviation in Reference to the Sexual Object Jim Locke
00:25:24
Play 02 THE SEXUAL ABERRATIONS: Deviation in Reference to the Sexual Aim Kathleen Moore
00:18:24
Play 03 General Statements Applicable to All Perversions Kathleen Moore
00:05:41
Play 04 The Sexual Impulse in Neurotics Jim Locke
00:09:53
Play 05 Partial Impulses and Erogenous Zones: Explanation of the Manifest Preponderance of Sexual Peversions in the Psychoneuroses; Reference to the Infantilasm of Sexuality Jim Locke
00:11:31
Play 06 II. THE INFANTILE SEXUALITY; The Sexual Latency Period of Childhood and its Interruptions; Manifestations of the Infantile Sexuality; The Sexual Aim Of The Infantile Sexuality Jim Locke
00:23:26
Play 07 The Masturbatic Sexual Manifestations; The Infantile Sexual Investigation; The Sources of infantile Sexuality Jim Locke
00:43:29
Play 08 III. THE TRANSFORMATION OF PUBERTY; The Primacy of the Genital Zones and the Fore-Pleasure; The Problem of Sexual Excitement Availle
00:21:03
Play 09 The Theory of the Libido; Differentation Between Man and Woman; The Object-Finding Availle
00:25:30
Play 10 Summary Jim Locke
00:28:17