psych

    An ancient dictionary from the early 1970s defines sexuality as a �Preoccupation with sex�, and sex itself as, among other things, �The activity or phenomena of life concerned with sexual desire or reproduction�Sexual gratification� (10). Apparently, circular reasoning was an acceptable practice in those antediluvian times, but there is a lucid connotation to these ramblings: The human animal has always had a preoccupation with the corruption of traditional intercourse to ensure the survival of the species, and many psychologists have felt it their place to rationalize these perversions.
      The infamous Dr. Sigmund Freud believed that everyone could, and generally did partake in sexually rewarding experiences, many times subconsciously, as discussed in his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. In the first �stage� of sexual development, pleasure is achieved through stimulation of the oral cavity, specifically during feeding (7). It is purported by one Karl Abraham, that biting is an element of the oral-sadistic stage, itself a subdivision of Freud�s oral stage. He contends that this demonstrates an aggressive need, which may be exacerbated into depression, addiction, or perversion in later years (19).
     Freud, ever the theorist, even hypothesized about the existence of a phase in which one may derive pleasure from the expulsion and/or retention of feces (7). He insinuated that the ability to control ones digestive protocol would somehow arouse delight, and a conflict in this period would most likely instigate �ambivalence, untidiness, defiance, and sadomasochistic tendencies� (17). One ought not take the anal stage lightly.
     The third, phallic stage, is the one which first incites awareness of the penis in males, and its absence in females, invariably creating a fear of castration in the former, and envy in the latter, for it is generally accepted by frivolous youths that the female�s penis has been removed by force (4). Also, the Oedipal zenith occurs here, evidenced by the omnipresent �threat of castration for boys� and a girls desire for a baby, as a symbol of the latent, continual desire for a penis (8, 9, 14, 20).
     Freud�s intermediary is described as the �latency period,� essentially a pause in sexual evolution (19), followed immediately by the genital period (18). This is the �phase of organization in sexuality� as he put it (7).

                                                        (cont'd)