Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality

Freud proposes the idea that sexual excitation is derived not from the so-called sexual parts alone, but from all the bodily organs. This culminates in the idea of a quantity of libido - with a mental representation - the ego-libido, whose production, increase or diminution, distribution and displacement explains observed psychosexual phenomena. This ego-libido is only accessible to study, though, when it has been put to use on objects - i.e. when it has become object-libido - but from this representation, the theory proposes, it should be possible to express all phenomena in terms of the economics of the libido.