The Oedipus complex

So there was this really illuminating psychosociology class, where the prof told us that the Freudian school of thought suggests that a child sucking its own thumb is an expression of unsatisfied unconscious sexual urges.
I asked the teacher if there were any more pre adolescent examples of such behavior, and she said there were many and cited Oedipus complexes and children being curious about genitalia, especially of the opposite gender. She didn’t elaborate much, but I went and looked it up in this book called “Children and sexuality” By Tony Harrison. So this is a mixture of what the teacher said and what the book showed up. I know wikipedia has a pussy page for child sexuality, about some kid masturbating and basically, it says that children explore themselves sexually too…
Now this Oedipus conflict in particular made people want to burn Freud as a heretic.

First there should be a basic understanding of the Freudian concepts of Id, Ego and Superego. Basically, the Id is the innate desire for sex, and basically the animal instinct of man. The Ego is the mediator between the id and Superego, and basically tries to interpret both and act on a suitable compromise. The ego is basically responsible for our personality. The superego is the social consciousness, or the moral values of the society and its norms.

Now, there is this story of the Hero who runs away from home because he discovers a prophecy that says he will marry his own mother. Then he ends up in a foreign land, defeats a king and abducts his wife, only to find out that they were his real parents. The name of this hero is Oedipus and that’s how the complex came to be.
Oedipus complex is said to be a sexual attraction towards the parent of the opposite gender, although sometimes it is only an attraction of a son to his mother. A daughter to father attraction is called an Electra complex. Each child looks at the parent of the same gender as a rival (do NOT tell me this isn’t true). According to Freud, there are five stages of child development. The funny thing is, each stage is named after a part of the body.




>The first stage is the oral stage. Here, pleasure is derived from sucking a bottle, or a thumb, a pacifier, or any other object. This is often misinterpreted as something to do with teething.

>The second stage is the anal stage. This was very weird to me when I first read it, but later on, I realized that it rang true. Children derive pleasure by retaining and expelling bodily wastes. This is also an expression of unsatisfied sexual behavior.

>The third stage is the phallic stage. Exploring the genitals brings pleasure to the child. Also, the Oedipus complex develops at this stage, and if this does not happen, the super ego does not develop. A lack of an Oedipus complex will lead to a lack of pressure to be within social norms. This is probably why children who do not have a parent around have a tendency to become anti-social elements.

>The next stage is the latency stage, where the superego (which has developed due to the Oedipus complex) gives the child a moral sense.

>The genital stage, is brought about by puberty, and libido is no longer suppressed and finds adult expression through intercourse and other activities.

I have seen plenty of examples of this. I know of a nursery class where children of the opposite gender frequently lift up their clothing and have no problem showing off. Also, I once read this question in an agony aunt column where a worried father asks if it was normal for his four year old to feel an urge to kiss another girl on her lips. So at least part of all this is true.
This leads to many questions when it comes to the relationships between children and adults. The way you interact with a child may be reciprocated in a way you wouldn’t imagine. The secrets blog that is blogrolled on my sidebar actually has at least two instances of people admitting to like, or fantasize about childhood molestation.
This means that the children may reciprocate sexual advances by other people, which is, somehow, a very dangerous thing.

The existence of complex sexual behavior in children is widely ignored because our culture forbids such thoughts. We reason that kids aren’t even aware of their gender, so how can sexuality be attributed to them. Is gender awareness necessary for sexual thought? Do we think I am MALE so I am going to find a FEMALE to inseminate? Aren’t our urges more primordial and more inherent?
There used to be child brothels in ancient Greece. Both Oedipus and Electra complexes are rampant in all cultures. Especially in Greek Mythology, children and siblings are found to rampantly procreate with their parents. Even in Indian mythology, Brahma bears children with his own daughter.
Time for acceptance, because this will allow sex education to permeate into the basic consciousness and therefore lead to a safer world for children.