ABSTRACT
In the process, object-choice is emphasized, and this concept is therefore very important for the analytic understanding of psycho-sexuality. With its help, one can explain the origin of differing forms of sexuality, such as heterosexuality, homosexuality, and "perversions", and conceive of them as psychically equivalent. A less pleasant side-effect of its being taken for granted was revealed at a 1983 meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association, when the assertion was made that because it permitted reproduction, heterosexuality was "normal" sexuality while homosexuality was "failed heterosexuality". In the Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud refers to homosexuality as "inversion" and distinguishes among the "absolute", the "amphigenic", and the "occasional" invert. Robert M. Friedman presents a historically based and theoretical critique of the widespread pathologizing of homosexuality. In addition to connecting disturbed male gender identity with homosexuality, Richard Friedman also hypothesizes that the crystallization and differentiation of erotic fantasy prior to adolescence affects sexual preference.
