Abstract
When first presented, Freud's theory of infantile sexuality was a scandal. Not only was the claim that the small child sucking at the mother's breast experiences a kind of pleasure that Freud without hesitation named sexual, the theory also turned the common understanding of human sexuality upside-down by lifting its definition out of a limited biological frame of understanding and placing it on the boundary between the somatic and the psychical. However, the concept of attachment and the empirical research tradition have created a new focus for the studies of the infant that seems to block our vision of the sexual. Following a historical outline, we examine the theories that, inspiring and inspired by Laplanche, once more discuss infantile sexuality, and argue that infantile sexuality is clarified by combining the concept of the drive with what in effect is an inter-subjective point of view.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 3-12 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| ISSN | 0106-2301 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2010 |