Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality

One of Sigmund Freud’s seminal texts and a founding text of psychoanalysis Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality broadly covers three topics – sexual perversions childhood sexuality and puberty.The three essays Freud put forth in this book are “The Sexual Aberrations” in which he explores sexual perversions and their causes; “The Infantile Sexuality” in which he discusses sexual urges and emotions in children and subsequent psychosexual development into adult sexuality; and “The Transformations of Puberty” which makes a distinction between the “fore-pleasures” of infantile sexuality versus the “end-pleasure” of sexual intercourse. In later editions the concepts of penis envy and castration anxiety were also introduced.Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis and one of the most influential and controversial people in the field of psychology having pioneered various theories including the Oedipus complex the concept of dreams as wish-fulfillment and the concept of libido. The field of psychoanalysis while highly influential within psychology is still disputed to this day with questions of efficacy and scientific rigor being raised.