[Comments on the origins of sexual identity.]

In spite of an abundant literature, comprising at least three major theoretical schools, and notwithstanding a multitude of clinical studies and experimental works, the understanding of psychosexual development is still more or less confused and the subject of heated debate. This article attempts to clarify the terminology used in this area and to highlight the principal aspects of this controversial question. There is an important need, in our opinion, to formulate a more comprehensive, global explanatory schema and to construct more refined objective measurement instruments, particularly with regard to children.