Preferences for Sexual Symbols in the Genital Stage: A Replication

Abstract

Freud's theory of sexual symbolism was tested with 61 twelfth grade students (33 females and 28 males). The students indicated their preferences for one figure in each of 15 figure pairs, some being from Cameron, some being new. The results were not consistent with Cameron's (1967) findings that adolescents preferred male phallic symbols. In the present study, genital stage females ( p < .01) and males ( p < .001) preferred female sexual symbols. The results may reflect the breakdown of the masculine-oriented culture during the 1960s and 1970s.