"Polymorphic pervert": what does this Freudian concept mean?

The conception of children under 5 years of age as "perverse polymorphs" It is a very striking aspect of the work of Sigmund Freud, creator of psychoanalysis.

In this article we will describe what exactly this curious concept means, which is related to the potentiality of obtaining sexual pleasure from any object during early life.

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The Freudian concept of perversion

Freud affirmed that the main characteristic of sexuality during childhood is polymorphous perversion. To understand this concept, it is necessary to first define how perversion is defined in the work of the father of psychoanalysis.

for this author perversion is simply non-normative sexual behavior; in the context in which Freud lived, heterosexual genital intercourse was conceived as normal, while virtually any other type of sexual behavior was seen as a deviation from morality dominant. To a large extent this idea is still valid today.

However, in Freud's work the vision of "perversion" is not necessarily negative. Although rape or pedophilia, which entail suffering for the victim, are forms of perversion, according to Freud's definition

so are fetishism or homosexuality, which he considered abnormal but not pathological behavior patterns.

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What does "polymorphic pervert" mean?

According to Freud, during the first years of life girls and boys obtain sexual gratification from very different sources. The drives are directed towards any object that can provide pleasure; In addition, the stimulation does not have to be limited to the genitals, but all parts of the body are capable of receiving gratification.

Thus, as we will explain in detail later, depending on the stage of psychosexual development, the little ones they would derive sexual pleasure from sucking on the mother's nipple, from retaining or expelling feces, and from many other things behaviors.

At the beginning of life, sexuality has not yet focused on the objects that normative socialization demands, that is, fundamentally heterosexual intercourse. From Freud's work it follows that this type of sexual education depends more on culture than biologyTherefore, each society or group would reinforce these patterns to a different extent.

This causes young children to lack sexual and gender identity. Once the latency period is over, that is, with the arrival of puberty, the gratification sexual intercourse is progressively redirected to heterosexual intercourse with the ultimate goal of reproduction. There is a clear relationship between this fact and the development of morality or Superego.

Therefore, Describing children as “polymorphic perverts” it implies that these are capable of feeling sexual pleasure in many different ways that deviate from the established social norm. This includes sexual orientation; Thus, we could say that according to Freud in the early stages of life all people are bisexual or even bisexual. pansexual.

The stages of psychosexual development

Psychoanalytic theory is largely based on the five stages of psychosexual development described by Freud. According to this author, people go through these phases in the process towards puberty and adolescence, a time when sexuality is definitively configured.

In each of these phases, sexual energy is focused on a different erogenous zone: the mouth, the anus or the genitals. If need gratification is insufficient or excessive during any of these stages, there is the risk of a psychological “fixation” taking place; this would imply the appearance of specific neuroses and perversions.

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1. oral phase

The first phase of sexual development roughly corresponds to the first year of life. During this period the baby obtains pleasure through the mouth, for example by introducing objects into it, which also allows him to explore his environment. The id dominates the psychic structure, so that the operation is based on the pleasure principle.

Fixation in the oral phase would cause the appearance of psychological traits such as immaturity, passivity and manipulability. On a sexual level, perversions related to the mouth would develop, such as Focusing of pleasure on kissing, fellatio or cunnilingus.

2. anal phase

The anal stage occurs between the second and fourth year of life. During this period the little ones learn to control personal hygiene, including the retention and expulsion of feces and urine. According to Freud, in the anal phase, sexual pleasure is obtained from the elimination of excrement through the intestinal and urinary tracts.

If a fixation occurs at this stage of development, obsessive-type traits and behaviors may appear (if the emphasis of the parents in cleaning is excessive) or a tendency towards lack of organization, self-indulgence and rebellion (in the case opposite). Regarding sexuality, coprophilia and urophilia would be related to the anal phase.

3. phallic phase

Between three and six years of age, the genitals become the main erogenous zone. At this age, girls and boys become aware of their own bodies and those of others, and therefore of the differentiation of sex and gender. The famous Oedipus and Electra complexes (proposed by Carl Jung and rejected by Freud) would occur during this phase.

Compulsive masturbation is the perversion that can be most clearly related to the phallic phase. There would be a focus on the pleasure obtained through the penis or the clitoris, depending on the biological sex of the person.

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4. Lag phase

Between the anal phase and puberty (that is to say, between the ages of 6 and 10), the sexual impulses are silenced and the energy is redirected towards social interaction, learning, leisure activities... During this period the character acquired during the psychosexual stages is consolidated previous.

Fixations in the latency stage are considered to be less common than in other phases. when they happen tend to be associated with intense sexual frustration and/or with an inability to focus pleasure on activities considered acceptable by the individual's social context.

5. genital phase

Freud considered that after puberty people reach the definitive stage of psychosexual development: the genital phase, in which we will remain throughout adult life. The gratification focuses again on the genitals, although in this case normality includes obtaining pleasure through other people, and not alone.

Failure to progress in this period may interfere with the acquisition of adaptive patterns of sexual intercourse. Thus, it is common for them to appear sexual dysfunctions such as arousal difficulties (mainly erection and lubrication, depending on the sex) in sexual relations, and also that these are not satisfactory.

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