ite sexual behavior does not occur until after puberty and is the
result of a series of as yet not observable factors, some of which are
of a constitutional, while some are of an accidental nature. Certainly
some of these factors can turn out to be so enormous that by their
character they influence the result. In general, however, the
multiplicity of the determining factors is reflected by the manifoldness
of the outcomes in the manifest sexual behavior of the person. In the
inversion types it can be ascertained that they are altogether
controlled by an archaic constitution and by primitive psychic
mechanisms. The importance of the _narcissistic object selection_ and
the _clinging_ to the erotic significance of the _anal_ zone seem to be
their most essential characteristics. But one gains nothing by
separating the most extreme inversion types from the others on the basis
of such constitutional peculiarities. What is found in the latter as
seemingly an adequate determinant can also be demonstrated only in
lesser force in the constitution of transitional types and in manifestly
normal persons. The differences in the results may be of a qualitative
nature, but analysis shows that the differences in the determinants are
only quantitative. As a remarkable factor among the accidental
influences of the object selection, we found the sexual rejection or the
early sexual intimidation, and our attention was also called to the fact
that the existence of both parents plays an important role in the
child's life. The disappearance of a strong father in childhood not
infrequently favors the inversion. Finally, one might demand that the
inversion of the sexual object should notionally be strictly separated
from the mixing of the sex characteristics in the subject. A certain
amount of independence is unmistakable also in this relation.

[12] Although psychoanalysis has not yet given us a full explanation for
the origin of inversion, it has revealed the psychic mechanism of its
genesis and has essentially enriched the problems in question. In all
the cases examined we have ascertained that the later inverts go through
in their childhood a phase of very intense but short-lived fixation on
the woman (usually on the mother) and after overcoming it they identify
themselves with the woman and take themselves as the sexual object; that
is, proceeding on a narcissistic basis, they look for young men
resembling themselves in persons whom they wis