Definitions HQ

Sexual (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not the same as genital — the confusion of the two is why doctors refuse to see thumbsucking as sexual.

The Sexual (n.) need ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not be genital, just as the psychical need not be conscious: psychoanalysis widened both concepts the same way.

The Sexual (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠first of all the improper, the thing one must not talk about — so that a famous psychiatrist could say "there's nothing sexual about childbirth."

Sexual (n.) defeats ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠every attempt at definition: centre it on reproduction and kissing falls out; centre it on the opposite sex and childbirth does.

The Sexual (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠thus what is accomplished through the genitals, but which is already there in 'the localized pleasure of the organs'. In more scientific terms, it is the application of a biogenetic principle, according to which the product of a process of development derives, in its mode of existence, from the existence of the process itself.