What about the "masculine" male who is homosexually attracted to his more "feminine" counterpart? Here, also, the sexual component is primary, but of the other two, the power component takes precedence over the dependency component. This person, adaptation ally, is better integrated than his partner.

Behavior, to be understandable to the observer, must be defined in terms of motivational goals. Nowhere is this more true than in the case of the homosexual conflict. This conflict, as we have seen, can be broken down into three component parts: sexual, dependency, and power.

The dependent male is engaged in a constant struggle to salvage his self esteem. He may attempt to deny his weakness by acting out its opposite, a compensatory striving power. Dependency strivings and power strivings can thus be considered opposite sides of the same coin. The power driven dependent male is over-competitive and structures relationships with other men in terms of dominance-submission.

Let us examine more closely the reality circumstances under which the dependent adult resorts to these reparative infantile fantasies. Here, certain social configurations become pertinent. Ours is a fiercely competitive culture that is intensely demanding in its pressures for superlative performance. The emphasis invariably falls on success, and there is little room for compromise without loss of face.

The dependent person aspires on the most primitive level to recapture the maternal breast. Such persons will have repeated dreams of food, all symbolic of the infantile desire to have one's every need gratified by an all powerful parent. The breast fantasy is the most direct reparative approach to the problem of dependency.

The first technique for survival and for need gratification is dependency. This is an adaptation that is rooted in the biological helplessness of the infant at birth. Clinical studies demonstrate that the adult unconsciously thinks of the infantile period as one of magical control. This must be the way the infant sees himself. He is magically omnipotent and his parents are magical agencies for the satisfaction of his needs.

An Adaptational Approach In recent years Freud's concept of homosexuality has been challenged by those workers who discarded the libido theory in favor of a more adaptational approach. This made possible the reclassification of homosexuality as a neurosis and opened pathways to psychotherapy.

Freud's constitutional orientation led him to adopt the concept of bisexuality. This concept held that each individual was constitutionally endowed with both male and female psychosexual attributes that eventually sought instinctual gratification in terms of object choice.

The concept of homosexuality proposed by Sigmund Freud remains relatively unchanged in most of the psychoanalytic literature of today. The theoretical approach used by Freud in the development of this concept makes it difficult to explain certain phenomena that are a part of the homosexual conflict.

In my experience, excessive sexual desire is so rare as to constitute a clinical curiosity when it is a primary symptom. An abnormally intense sexual appetite in females has been termed "nymphomania" and the corresponding condition in the male is "Don Juanism."