Phallic stage

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The Phallic stage is the third stage of Sigmund Freud's theory of psychosexual development that occurs between the ages of 3 and 6. The source of pleasure at this stage is the genitals. This is also the stage where the conflict of the Oedipus complex is worked through. The Oedipus complex is believe to be the idea that boys will find themselves being sexuality attracted to their mother. However, the Oedipus complex derives from the Oedipus Rex story, where a King in old Greece believed that his new born child was going to grow up and kill him some day, and therefore kicked him out of his country. Story short, Oedipus Rex was sent off and never knew about his past. As a teenager, he decided one day to explore and found this country in old Greece and got into an accidental fight with the king and killed him. He then took the queen as his wife, which happened to be his mother. Oedipus complex is simply the idea that a son is jealous of his father because he takes away from "mommy time". There are no sexual desires towards the mother role, it has to do with "identity". For girls this is called the Electra complex. The Electra complex was termed subsequently, and not by Freud himself (who disagreed with the theory that girls went through the same process) ("Sigmund Freud 1856-1939", 2000). Girls facing the Electra complex are in competition with their mother in order to get their father's attention. They want their father all to themselves. On the other hand, boys in this stage are theoretically in competition with their father for their mother's attention and want to "marry" their mother. They may take on their father's traits, and strive to be like him in order to receive their mother's attention.

Many boys and girls in this stage try to place themselves between their parents in order to keep one parent away from the other so that they get all of the attention. Boys may also face the castration complex in this stage, which is when they fear that their father will punish them for their feelings by castrating them. Girls at this stage are said to develop penis envy, in which they are jealous of males for having something important that they lack (the penis). In the phallic stage, boys and girls have conflicting feelings between the guilt that they have over their secret (sexual) desires and their fear of punishment for these feelings. Children usually deal with this conflict by repressing these feelings due to competition and fear by identifying with the same sex parent instead. This is known as identification with the aggressor. The Oedipal conflict is resolved if the child grows into a sexually normal adult. If the Oedipal conflict is not fully resolved, the child will experience sexual deviances, such as becoming promiscuous, very sexually inhibited, or sexually confused as an adult. The development of the superego (their voice of conscience) can help resolve this conflict during this stage by integrating moral and social values and expectations from society via parents about their sexual roles as a male or female.

Female sexuality and criticism of Freud's theories

Freud believed that it was natural for female children in this stage to focus on the clitoris as their primary organ for sexual pleasure. He believed that upon reaching adulthood and sexual maturity, a female's primary sexual focus shifts to the vagina. There is considerable criticism regarding this theory, as it portrays adult women who continue to enjoy and/or have an orgasm from clitoral stimulation as having not reached full sexual maturity.

References

Sigmund Freud 1856-1939. (2000). In Encyclopedia of German Literature. London: Routledge. Retrieved September 02, 2009, from http://www.credoreference.com.library.capella.edu/entry/routgermanlit/sigmund_freud_1856_1939

See also

• Psychosexual development
  • Oral stage
  • Anal stage
  • Latency stage
  • Genital stage
• Freud's View of Psychosexual Development

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