Focusing on the Genesis of this artwork, explain the Others' comments about the Subject matter.
Others' comments Arne Eggum has stated in commentary published by The Masterworks of Edvard Munch regarding Munch's Puberty that the images were so similar, Munch found it necessary to claim he did not wish to replicate Félicien Rops' 1886 Le Plus Bel Amour De Don Juan. [Although Eggum was in error; the 2nd ed. of Les Diaboliques with Rops etching, was published in 1882, not 1886].
Munch claimed the painting is a duplicate of one that had been earlier destroyed in a fire in 1885 or 1886, reiterating the confusion of the original idea in which Munch was inspired to create Puberty.: 195 p. : 79 p. 
Munch himself (like the female he has portrayed in Puberty) feared sex due to the loss of his virginity to his cousin's wife.
Edvard Munch Félicien Rops Les Diaboliques Puberty etching painting Arne Eggum Rops