DESCRIPTION:
Why do young girls grow up to be strippers and whores while other girls grow up to become obese and lethargic? Oral fixations are considered to contribute to over-eating, being overly talkative, smoking addictions, overindulging in sugar, chewing on straws and toothpicks, and even alcoholism (known as "oral dependent" qualities). Other symptoms include a sarcastic or "biting" personality (known as "oral sadistic" qualities). Another indicator is constant nail biting and putting fingers in mouth. The third stage of Sigmund Freud's theory of psychosexual development that occurs between the ages of 3 and 5. The source of pleasure at this stage is the genitals. This is also the stage where the conflict of the Oedipus complex is worked through. The Oedipus complex is where boys in this stage have an unconscious sexual attraction to their mother. For girls this is called the Electra complex. For example, girls facing the Electra complex are in competition with their mother in order to get their father's attention. They want their father all to themselves. On the other hand, boys in this stage are in competition with their father for their mother's attention and want to "marry" their mother. They may take on their father's traits, and strive to be like him in order to receive their mother's attention.

Many boys and girls in this stage try to place themselves between their parents in order to keep one parent away from the other so that they get all of the attention. Boys may also face the castration complex in this stage, which is when they fear that their father will punish them for their feelings by castrating them. Girls at this stage are said to develop penis envy, in which they are jealous of males for having something important that they lack (the penis). In the phallic stage, boys and girls have conflicting feelings between the guilt that they have over their secret (sexual) desires and their fear of punishment for these feelings. Children usually deal with this conflict by repressing these feelings and by identifying with the same sex parent instead. The Oedipal conflict is resolved if the child grows into a sexually normal adult. If the Oedipal conflict is not fully resolved, the child may become promiscuous, very sexually inhibited, or confused about sexuality as an adult. The development of the superego can help resolve this conflict during this stage by integrating moral and social values and expectations about their sexual roles as a male or female.