A quite interesting, yet also complicated read about Freud's thoughts on sexuality. I was not able to understand everything that he wrote about, but I was able to gain a very basic understanding on some aspects, for example his thoughts about psychosexual development. Something that is categorized into five different stages. These are
Stage 1: The oral stage (birth to 1 years age) The libido, sexual attraction, is focused on the mouth. The infant is subconsciously seeking out it's mother's breast for nourishment and this become their first exposure to sexual activity. This means that the first sexualobject, the object of sexual desire for a straight woman it is a man and vice versa, for both boys and girls came from the mother.
Stage 2: The anal stage (1 - 3 years of age) Emphasis is now put towards the anus. The child learns how to use the potty and thus it becomes subconsciously aware about the ability to poop, something that it tries to learn and understand through using a diaper and going potty training. Analsex is a thing, therefore being conscious of the anus's existence becomes the child's second exposure to sexual activity.
Stage 3: The phallic stage (3 - 6 years of age): The libido is now fixated on the biological sex of the child. Through this phase, the child, according to Freud, experiences what he refers to as 'The oidipuscomplex' for boys and 'The electracomplex' for girls in which the child develops a rivalry towards the parent of the same sex, as well as a sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex. These are subconscious and beyond the child's control, if I understand Freud correctly, and is a cornerstone for understanding future sexual development. The idéa of the oidipuscomplex comes from the Greek tragedy 'King Oidipus' written by Sophocles where the main character, King Oidipus, kills his father and marries his mother.
Stage 4: The latent stage (6 - pubertyage): During this phase of the child's life, the libido is dampened and put to the side for a while because the emphasis is now put towards the child developing important relationships with other people instead. It is all about forming meaningful connections with other people that does not include anyone from the family environment.
Stage 5: The genital stage (puberty - adultage): With the rise of puberty to adulthood, libido is re-introduced again into the child's life. But instead of seeking out a romantic and sexual relationship with one of the parents like in the phallic stage, the child now starts to grow romantic and sexual attraction towards people of the opposite sex.
Freud believed that homosexuality was an abnormity. He called it an inversion and he had very little understanding of homosexuality and what it actually means to be gay and lesbian. Therefore, his theories stem more from an observation of a cis-straight boy as he also didn't put as much emphasis on female sexuality. He dedicated two articles towards only explaining female sexuality and sexuality in girls, but most of his observations came from men. However, he does believe, at least to some degree, that every human being are innately born as bisexual, although he admits and is conscious that he doesn't have all the answers when it comes to sex and it's relation to stereotypical gender norms.
Freud's theories are, by my observation, culturally based. He was himself dealing with a lot of mental health issues therefore, his ability to understand and help his patients also relied heavily on his own understanding of himself. Freud's writing has been widely criticized by many authors and he does adopt idéas that he later changes his mind on and abandon. So while I do understand why his theories has been very helpful for understanding the conscious, pre-subconscious and subconscious mind of the human condition, it is best to read his theories with curiosity, an open mind and a grain of salt.