Freud Theory Course 2021: Seminar 2

Seminar 2: Transformation of Puberty

Freud, S (1905) III The Transformations of Puberty: Ibid. pp127 - 169

Freud’s chapter on The Transformations of Puberty describes how the diffuse, partial drives of childhood become reorganised into a unified, adult sexual life at puberty. He argues that the onset of puberty brings powerful anatomical and hormonal changes that reactivate the earlier infantile sexual impulses, but now with a new aim: genital primacy and the capacity for reproductive sexuality. The previously separate erotogenic zones become subordinated to the genital function, and the sexual drive acquires a clear object outside the family. Freud emphasises that this shift is not simply biological but deeply psychological, involving the reworking of childhood fantasies, identifications, and Oedipal attachments. Puberty introduces intense ambivalence, heightened affect, and a renewed struggle between desire and repression, all of which shape the adolescent’s emerging sexual identity. Ultimately, Freud presents puberty as a decisive developmental moment in which the individual must integrate the residues of infantile sexuality with the demands of adult love, social life, and cultural norms.