infantile life; thus the development of
sexual inhibitions (shame, loathing, sympathy, etc.) ensues earlier and
with less resistance in the little girl than in the little boy. The
tendency to sexual repression certainly seems much greater, and where
partial impulses of sexuality are noticed they show a preference for the
passive form. But, the autoerotic activity of the erogenous zones is the
same in both sexes, and it is this agreement that removes the
possibility of a sex differentiation in childhood as it appears after
puberty. In respect to the autoerotic and masturbatic sexual
manifestations, it may be asserted that the sexuality of the little girl
has entirely a male character. Indeed, if one could give a more definite
content to the terms "masculine and feminine," one might advance the
opinion that _the libido is regularly and lawfully of a masculine
nature, whether in the man or in the woman; and if we consider its
object, this may be either the man or the woman_.[4]

Since becoming acquainted with the aspect of bisexuality I hold this
factor as here decisive, and I believe that without taking into account
the factor of bisexuality it will hardly be possible to understand the
actually observed sexual manifestations in man and woman.

*The Leading Zones in Man and Woman.*--Further than this I can only add
the following. The chief erogenous zone in the female child is the
clitoris, which is homologous to the male penis. All I have been able to
discover concerning masturbation in little girls concerned the clitoris
and not those other external genitals which are so important for the
later sexual functions. With few exceptions I myself doubt whether the
female child can be seduced to anything but clitoris masturbation. The
frequent spontaneous discharges of sexual excitement in little girls
manifest themselves in a twitching of the clitoris, and its frequent
erections enable the girl to understand correctly even without any
instruction the sexual manifestations of the other sex; they simply
transfer to the boys the sensations of their own sexual processes.

If one wishes to understand how the little girl becomes a woman, he must
follow up the further destinies of this clitoris excitation. Puberty,
which brings to the boy a great advance of libido, distinguishes itself
in the girl by a new wave of repression which especially concerns the
clitoris sexuality. It is a part of the male sexual life that sinks into
repr