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Psychosexual Development and Human Sexuality

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Psychosexual Development and Human Sexuality
Throughout the history of the human race, and even more so today, our own sexuality has become topic for hot debate. Questions of why people prefer on gender over the other, or why some people take pleasure in activities others consider strange. To understand how and why people display certain sexual tendencies it is important to look at how they developed and the type of history a person has. Despite popular belief, not all gay men have been sexually abused as children. Two key players in understanding psychosexual development and human sexuality are Freud and Alfred Kinsey.

To begin understanding what shapes us as people we must look at Sigmund Freud's theory of psychosexual development. Although the name would imply that this development would center around the development of our sexual selves, it is quite the opposite. The fixations occur around erogenous zones of the body. the first of these zones is the mouth. This stage of development is referred to as the oral stage. It begins at birth and usually lasts about 18 months. During this time there is an oral fixation with activities such as teething and or sucking on objects. too little of too much of this activity can result in what is referred to as an Oral Personality. These types of people preoccupy their time with oral fixations such as smoking and so on.

The second stage of psychosexual development is called the Anal Stage. As you can imagine this stage focus' on the anus as a erogenous zone of fixation. The child will typically take pleasure in holding in the feces and releasing it. Potty training brings about the development of self control. Through learning how to hold it in until it is possible to reach a toilet teaches the child this sense of self control. The two types of characters that develop out of this stage are Anal Retentive characters and Anal Expulsive characters. During the anal stage Anal Retentive children will hold in their feces and typically develop into very neat, sometimes

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