Oedipus, Darwin, and Freud: One big, happy family?

The author reviews recent sociobiological and psychoanalytic literature rel evant to sexual aspects of the male Oedipus complex. Sociobiological discus sions of incest and incest avoidance frequently contrast Freud's Oedipus co mplex with the Westermarck hypothesis. Westermarck argued that children who grow up in close association are averse to sex with each other as adults. Human and animal evidence supports the Westemzarck hypothesis, and sociobio logically oriented writers have argued that it contradicts Freud's oedipal notion of an early incestuous sexual interest. However, two additional line s of evidence are relevant to such discussions. First, recent analytic theo ry on the Oedipus complex does not require the existence of a central, powe rful, incestuous sexual drive Second, both oedipal and sociobiological theo ry suggest that early familial experience forms a model for adult sexual ma te choice and establishes patterns of adult sexual relationships. In these instances, sociobiological understandings of early development correspond w ell to oedipal theory.