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The '''[[genital ]] [[stage]]''' in [[psychology]] is the term used by [[Sigmund Freud]] to describe the final stage of [[human ]] [[psychosexual ]] [[development]]. According to [[Freud]]'s theories, this stage begins at [[puberty ]] and constitutes mature [[adult ]] [[sexuality]].

Freud believed that at this stage, [[female ]] [[Human_sexuality|sexuality]] shifted from [[being ]] [[clitoris]]-centric to being [[vagina]]-centric. There is considerable criticism of this [[theory]], as it portrays adult [[women ]] who continue to [[enjoy ]] and [[orgasm]] from clitoral stimulation as not having reached [[full ]] [[sexual ]] maturity. A stage or [[phase]] of [[psychosexual development]], the genital stage is characterized by the organization of the component [[instincts]] under the primacy of the genital zone. It is [[divided]] into two periods separated by the [[latency]] period: first, the [[infantile]] genital organization, or [[phallic]] phase, dominated by the [[phallus]], that is, by the [[male]] genital [[organ]] alone, and, secondly, the genital organization properly so-called, which is established at puberty. Many authors feel that the [[terms]] "genital stage" or "genital organization" should be reserved for this second period, and that the "infantile genital organization" or "[[phallic phase]]" should properly be classed with the ([[oral]] and [[anal]]) [[pregenital]] organizations that precede latency. Freud himself at first described the genital organization as linked to the discovery of the sexual [[object]] at the [[time]] of puberty (1905d). Under the primacy of the genital zone, a prerequisite to the union of the [[sexes]], the component instincts of the young [[child]]'s "polymorphously [[perverse]]" sexuality were [[unified]] and integrated into sexual [[activity]] as fore-[[pleasure]]. In a paper of 1923, "The Infantile Genital Organization," intended as a complement to his [[Three]] Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud moved away from the standpoint of [[biological]] [[maturation]], reduced the [[significance]] previously accorded to puberty, and described an organization that approximated "(in [[about]] the fifth year) to the definitive [[form]] taken by [sexuality] in the adult" (1923e, p. 141). There are two important points here. Object-choices, as first made during this phase, are in every way analogous to post-pubertal choices, and this is "the closest approximation possible in [[childhood]] to the final form taken by sexual [[life]] after puberty" (p. 142). The second and even more important point is that the infantile genital organization, which is simultaneous with the emergence of the [[Oedipus]] [[complex]], is marked by the [[presence]] of a [[particular]] sexual theory: the child at this time conceives of but one kind of genital, namely the male sexual organ. This is the [[reason]] for the denomination "phallic phase": "At the same time, the main characteristic of this 'infantile genital organization' is its [[difference]] from the final genital organization of the adult. This consists in the fact that, for both sexes, only one genital, namely the male one, comes into account. What is [[present]], therefore, is not a primacy of the genitals, but a primacy of the phallus." (p. 142) The [[idea]] of the primacy of the male genital organ thus became the foundation of the general theory of the [[castration]] complex, of which Freud sought thence-forward to [[frame]] [[feminine]] as well as [[masculine]] versions: "the significance of the [[castration complex]] can only be rightly appreciated if its origin in the phase of phallic primacy is also taken into account" (p.144). In An [[Outline]] of [[Psycho]]-[[Analysis]], Freud placed the phallic phase as a pregenital organization following the oral and anal organizations, and reserved the term "genital organization" or "phase" for the pubertal period only. He reasserted the idea that "The [[complete]] organization is only achieved at puberty, in a fourth, genital phase" (1940a, p. 155). It is worth recalling here the importance of the [[notion]] of organization. Each phase of development sets up a functional [[system]] that organizes not only the current [[state]] of [[mental]] operation but also its [[future]] state. Thus, in 1923, Freud summarized the transformations that the polarity between the sexes undergoes during infantile sexual development as follows: "At the stage of the pregenital [[sadistic]]-anal organization, there is as yet no question of male and female; the antithesis between [[active]] and [[passive]] is the dominant one. At the following stage of infantile genital organization, which we now [[know]] about, maleness [[exists]], but not femaleness. The antithesis here is between having a male genital and being [[castrated]]. It is not until development has reached its completion at puberty that the sexual polarity coincides with male and female" (1923e, p. 145). Even though the evolution of Freud's view of psychosexual development led him to assimilate [[infantile sexuality]] more and more to adult sexuality, he did not alter his initial assertion: he continued to maintain that it was only with the advent of the sexual organization of puberty that the component instincts were definitively unified and a hierarchy established; the child could not emerge from the [[anarchy]] of the component instincts until, at puberty, the primacy of the genital zone was assured. JEAN-FRANÇOIS RABAIN See also: Adolescent crisis; Genital [[love]]; Phobias in [[children]]; Stage (or phase).[[Bibliography]]  * Brusset, Bernard. (1992). Le Développement libidinal. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. * Freud, Sigmund. (1905d). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. SE, 7: 123-243. * ——. (1923e). The infantile genital organization (An interpolation into the theory of sexuality). SE, 19: 141-145. * ——. (1940a). An outline of psycho-analysis. SE, 23: 139-207.