The energy supply of sexual desire (libido) is carried out by deep brain structures (the limbic complex, visual cusps, hypothalamus, pituitary gland) and endocrine glands. The activity of these biological structures is associated with the awakening and unfolding of sexual desire, the presence and severity of all sexual manifestations, and the particular aggravation of human sexual experiences. Mature sexual desire is characterized by selectivity (selectivity) in the choice of the object of desire and preferred forms of sexual behavior. Violations of the formation of libido can lead to both pathogenic effects on the embryonic phase, and (to a much greater extent) the influence of negative psychological and micro-social factors in the early stages of human psychosexual development.

According to the concept of Z. Freud, libido is the source of all the psychic energy of the individual, and he called all emotional and physical satisfaction sexual. In accordance with the predominant localization of erogenous zones, the stimulation of which causes erotic sensations in different periods of the psychosexual development of a person, 3. Freud identified several of his phases. In fact – this is the stage of development of libido. The first phase, oral, covers the first year of life, when the mouth is the main source of pleasure for the infant (sucking and then biting). The second, anal, phase (at the age from one to three years) is characterized by a heightened interest of the child to defecate. By controlling this process, the child receives bodily pleasure and at the same time develops skills for self-control. The third, phallic, phase occurs at the age of three to five years.

There is a growing interest of the child to the genitals. In this phase, the boy must overcome the Oedipus complex, and the girl must overcome the complex and the feeling of envy of the boys due to the absence of her penis. At this phase, sexual identification occurs (normally, the formation of the correct sexual identity of the child is completed). The fourth, latent, phase continues until the onset of puberty. It is characterized by a temporary weakening of the child’s sexual reactions and a “dormant” libido. With puberty, the genital phase of development begins when the libido seeks and finds satisfaction in sexual intimacy. Freud suggested that if something interferes with the normal psychosexual development, there will be a return, a recourse to the phases that have passed. It was in psychological regression or fixation at the past stages of psychosexual development that he saw the key to understanding deviant sexuality.

So, being closely connected with consciousness, the libido undergoes a long individual evolution, gradually becoming more complex and acquiring new qualities. In domestic sexology there are several stages of its formation.

The conceptual stage is entirely connected with the formation of a child’s consciousness, is devoid of sensual coloring and has no relation to sexual attraction as such. At this stage, the child realizes that all the people around him are divided not only into boys and girls, but also into more capacious categories – men and women (mom and dad, grandparents, aunts and uncles). Having assimilated the fact of isolation, the child begins to identify with one of the two sexes.

The young men’s romantic stage is characterized by fantasies in which they accomplish various feats in honor of the idealized object of first love, the girls have a clear desire to like, draw attention to themselves, fantasies appear, the main content of which is unselfish care for her from a beautiful and brave knight “. Attempts to destroy these illusions with teachings from their relatives or by shortening the distance on the part of the young man are perceived as dirty and offensive. Characteristic features of this stage are high heat of feelings with elements of sweet tragedy and self-denial, conviction in the uniqueness of the experience: “no one has ever loved since I”. The significance of this stage of libido formation lies in raising the physiological instinct to true human love. In contrast to the rapid development of sexual attraction among young men, the features of the romantic stage in girls can persist for a long time, intertwining with erotic elements.

The erotic stage is expressed in the desire for tenderness and caress. This stage, which determines female sexuality for a long time, is rather quickly replaced in young men by the need for their completion by sexual discharge. The girls gradually have a moving interest in erotic situations and stimuli, fantasies are becoming more and more sensual, there is a desire to become an object of courtship and erotic caresses on the part of a man. Experiences of the first love fill the erotic stage with bright and unforgettable feelings and hopes, many of which never came to be.

The sexual stage proceeds against the background of the instinctual desire to discharge sexual tension, that is, specific lower-order emotions, which are closely related to the activity of the deep structures of the brain and sex glands. The youthful hypersexuality arising in adolescence is accompanied by a number of specific phenomena — intense sexual attraction with a peculiar erotization of the psyche, unrelenting curiosity about sex issues, frequent spontaneous and adequate erections with pronounced sexual arousal, nocturnal pollutions, regular masturbation with vivid sexual fantasies, and an unproductive mastery of a person, with a strong sexual arousal, anxious sexual arousal, unhealthy sexuality, regular masturbation, vivid sexual fantasies, and an unpopular mastery of a person. , which is characterized by the alternation of sexual excesses and periods of abstinence.

In women, this stage is characterized by the appearance of a desire for intimate intimacy and the ability to experience orgasm, and often only occurs after the onset of regular sex life. Vigorous pubertal development in women may be accompanied by an early and intense manifestation of erotic libido, but in the absence of regular sexual intercourse or at least masturbation, the formation of a mature sexual desire usually lags. According to A. M. Svyadosch (1988), the lack of sexual libido throughout life was observed in 22.4% of the women he examined. In most cases, such a delay is associated with the suppression of sexuality as a result of defects in the education or incompetence of the sexual partner.

The stage of mature sexuality is characterized by a harmonious relationship between the conceptual, sublime-romantic, erotic and sexually-sensual elements with the entire system of moral and ethical values ​​of the personality. With the achievement of maturity in men, mechanisms of control over their sexual behavior are formed, therefore, in contrast to the sexual stage, he can successfully suppress sexual tendencies that are contrary to social norms and personal moral and ethical attitudes. Most women are characterized by cyclical fluctuations in the intensity of sexual desire, associated with different phases of the menstrual cycle.