Concepts of sexuality in Freud, Kinsey, and Masters and Johnson

¶ … Terminology

The primary concept discussed in this particular scenario regarding Elizabeth and what has come to be her sexual frustration is an inability to orgasm. Within women, such an inability to do so is oftentimes referred to as frigidity. However, it is important to note that Elizabeth is able to achieve orgasm via masturbation, which involves clitoral stimulation. Therefore, the degree of frigidity she experiences is not of the primary variety, but of the secondary variety in which a woman has achieved orgasm before -- typically through clitoral stimulation -- yet has a persistence of being unable to achieve orgasm through conventional coitus.

Among psychological theorists on this subject that include the likes of Freud, Masters and Johnson, and Kinsey, the psychologist whose work is most associated with this phenomenon is Freud. He posited the notion that there was a relatively simple explanation for women such as Elizabeth who were able to achieve orgasm via clitoral stimulation and not through vaginal intercourse. The philosopher believed that this phenomenon was due to stages of development in a woman's physiology. Freud advanced the idea that younger women are readily able to achieve sexual gratification (and orgasm) through their clitorises. During their process of physically and emotionally maturing, however, their erogenous zone transfers from the clitoris to their vagina, which allows them to experience sexual gratification in this latter area. Women who were not able to achieve orgasm via this means were considered immature and not having reached the full completion of physiological womanhood from a sexual perspective. Such a theory explains why Elizabeth would be able to achieve orgasm during masturbation, yet not through conventional vaginal intercourse with a partner.

However, this developmental notion of Freud's was widely discredited in the years since he posited it. Instead, it appears as though the general perspective that Elizabeth's dilemma falls under is psychodynamic theory. Not surprisingly, psychodynamic theory mostly originated from the works of Freud as well. Today, this theory encompasses a host of theories that all primarily relate to both conscious and unconscious desires and their ramifications. Both the unconscious and the conscious mind, which play a profound impact on actions (or the inability to complete an action, in this case) affect the waking moments that a person endures.

In Freud's philosophy, the conscious part of the mind is referred to as the ego, which controls waking moments and thoughts. The unconscious part of the mind is referred to as the superego and the id; the latter of these controls Eros and Thantos, which are one's sex drive and aggressive, drive, respectively. The important thing is that psychodynamic theory contends that the unconscious mind, the super ego and the id, are usually at conflict with the conscious mind, the ego. This theory also contends that that events and emotions that took place during childhood affect the ego if not directly conflict with.