Murder on the mind: Tyranical power and other points along the perverse spectrum

Abstract

This paper illustrates the breadth and depth of the spectrum of perversion and perversity as currently represented in the psychoanalytic literature, raises questions about recent tendencies to include a host of diverse-seeming phenomena under the same conceptual umbrella, and strives to demonstrate what these phenomena have in common that justifies lumping them together under the same rubric. One end of this spectrum is represented by the employment of simple fetishes introduced into a sexual scene in order to promote sexual arousal. Moving along the continuum, one encounters increasing complex behavioral patterns including the enactment of scripts that actualize one's perverse fantasies, including the assumption of complementary roles (e.g. sadomasochism) that equally serve the needs, and represent the desires, of both parties involved. A unique clinical entity, 'perverse modes of relatedness,' lies on the extreme end of the spectrum, representing the reification of the relationship as it becomes little more than a vehicle to take possession and control one's object for the gratification of one's sole needs and desires. What each of these phenomena share in common is both the insertion of a thing or condition - ranging from a simple fetishistic object to an elaborate style of relating that reduces the other into pawn played upon the pervert's chessboard, between the two 'relating' objects as well as a less than honest relationship with reality.

Female exhibitionism: Identification, competition and camaraderie

“…Before going further we will need to specify what we mean by perverse or a perversion, although it is beyond the scope of this paper for a complete review of the contemporary psychoanalytic literature on perversion. There is no simple or agreed‐upon definition of perversion (Jacobson, 2003; Tuch, 2010). Perversion can be defined from the descriptive, etiological, characterological, sexual, defensive, clinical, nosological, developmental, or transferential vantage points, each valuable.…”

“…And like Stein, we would hope to separate the understanding of perversions and perverse behaviors from condemnatory, marginalizing attitudes and indictments of difference. We are in sympathy with Tuch (2010) who warns that: “There is a clear‐cut danger in overextending a term to include so wide a variety of phenomena of different phenomena as to render the term conceptually useless” (p. 159).…”

“…(We will give an example of social influences on female exhibitionism later.) In Tuch’s (2010) expanded view of perversion as an attempt to reconcile unacceptable aspects of reality, not driven by castration anxiety alone: “… Perversion, by necessity, would apply equally to men and to women” (p. 91).…”

The Intervention: Mere Arltyewele (Settle Down Country) – Bear the Gap to Close the Gap

“…One may hypothesize that for Aboriginal people the world has been perverted by the white man and that colonization has resulted in the loss of traditional roles and identities, obfuscating generational difference, which has led to a world of deadened relations and feelings that can all too readily give rise to promiscuity and abuse. Furthermore, colonization has been marked by a perverse relatedness (Tuch, , p. 146), where control has been cruelly exerted at times, precluding any consideration of the needs, feelings or rights of the other apart from creating feelings of entrapment as, for example, the Pintubi people seemed to experience at Papunya. Working with such a situation, as with Samuel, entails working through the overt sexualized behaviour and thoughts to reach the terrors of the trauma and, in other cases, working through sharp separations and the absence or loss of love.…”

Collusive induction in perverse relating: Perverse enactments and bastions as a camouflage for death anxiety

“…The predominant opinion in contemporary psychoanalysis (Kernberg, , ; Parsons, ; Tuch, ) holds that perverse pathology includes a wide clinical spectrum ranging from the temporary perverse defences that appear during difficult periods in all analyses (Coen, ) to the strictly sexual perversions and a diversity of perverse character types not necessarily accompanied by a sexual perversion.…”