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Freud considers that auto-erotic manifestations are common in infancy, and
that the rhythmic function of any sensitive spot, primarily the lips, may
easily pass into masturbation. He regards the infantile manifestations of
which thumb-sucking is the most familiar example (Luedeln or Lutschen in
German) as auto-erotic, the germ arising in sucking the breasts since the
lips are an erogenous zone which may easily be excited by the warm stream
of milk. But this only occurs, he points out, in subjects in whom the
sensitivity of the lip zone is heightened and especially in those who at a
later age are liable to become hysterical.[304] Shuttleworth also points
out that the mere fidgetiness of a neurotic infant, even when only a few
months old, sometimes leads to the spontaneous and accidental discovery of
pleasurable sexual sensations, which for a time appease the restlessness
of nervous instability, though a vicious circle is thus established. He
has found that, especially among quite young girls of neurotic heredity,
self-induced excitement, often in the form of thigh-friction, is more
common than is usually supposed.[305]
Normally there appears to be a varying aptitude to experience the sexual
organism, or any voluptuous sensations before puberty. I find, on
eliciting the recollections of normal persons, that in some cases there
have been voluptuous sensations from casual contact with the sexual organs
at a very early age; in other cases there has been occasional slight
excitement from early years; in yet other cases complete sexual anaesthesia
until the age of puberty.
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