sigmund freud - fetishism

7/29/2019 Sigmund Freud - Fetishism

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FETISHISM(1927)

-EDITOR'S NOTEFETISCHISMU'S

(a) GERMAN EDITIONs:1927 Almanach 1928, 17-24.1927 lnJ. Z Psychoanal., 13 (4), 373-8.1928 G.S., 11, 395--401.1931 Sexualthtorie und Traumlehre, 220-7.1948 G.W., 14, 311-17.(b) ENGLISH TRANSLATION:'Fetishism'1928 Int. J. Psyclw-Anal., 9 (2), 161-fi. (Tr. Joan Riviere.)

1950 C.P., 5, 198- 204. (Revised reprint of above.)Th e present translation is a modified version of the one. published in 1950.

This paper was finished at the end of the first week ofAugust, 1927 Qones, 1957, 146), and was published almostsimultaneously the same autumn in the Almanach 1928 and inthe last issue of the Zeitschrifl for 1927.In his earliest discussion of fetishism, in the Three Essays(1905d), Standard Ed., 7, 153-5, Freud wrote that 'no othervariation of the sexual instinct that borders on the pathologicalcan lay so much claim to our interest as this one', and he in factreturned many times to a consideration ofit. In this first accounthe did no t go much further than maintaining that 'the choiceof a fetish is an after-effect of some sexual impression, receivedas a rule in early childhood', and he left it at that in some passing comments on foot-fetishism in his study on Gradiva (l907a)a year or two later (ibid., 9, 46-7). His next approach to thesubject seems to have been in an unpublished paper 'O n theGenesis of Fetishism', read to the Vienna Psycho-AnalyticalSociety on February 24, 1909 (Jones, 1955, 332); but we haveunluckily not been given access to the Society's Minutes. Atthat time he was on the point of preparing the 'Rat Man'H9

Fetischismus(1927)

EDITORISCHE VORBEMER.KUNG

De11tsche A11sgaben:1927 Almttnach 1918, 17-24.1927 Int. Z. Psychoanal., Dd. 13 (4), 373- 8.1928 G. S., Bd. 11, 395-401.1931 StXNaltheorie und Traumlehre, 220-7.1948 G. W., Bd. 14,311-7.

Dieser Aufsatz wurde am Ende der ersten Augustwodte 1927 abgeschlossen{jones, 1962 b, 167) und erscbien im Herbst des gleidten Jahres fast gleidtzeitig im .Aimanach 1928 und im letzten Heft 1927 der lnternationalen Ztit-schri/1. In seiner frUhestcn Erortcrung des Fetischismus in den Drei Abhandhmgen(1905 d), St11dienausgabe, Bd. 5, S. 63- 5, sdtrieb Freud: Keine andere ans

Pathologiscbe streifende Variation des Sexualtriebes ha t so viel Ansprudt llufunser Interesse . Un d in der Ta t ha t er sicb mehrfadt damit auseinandergesetzt. In jener ersten Erorterung geht er nocb kaum iiber die Feststellunghinaus: In de r Auswahl des Fetisdt zeigt sidt . . . der fortwirkende EinfluBcines zumeist in fruher Kindhcit cmpfangenen sexucllen Eindruckes .. ,; dabeibelieB er es aucb, als er in seiner wenig spatcr verfaBten Gradiva-Studie(1907a) kurz das Thema des Fu6fctiscbismus streifte (Studienausgabe, Bd.tO,S. H-6). Die nacbste Diskussion des Themas findet sicb in einem am 24. Februar 1909 vor der Wiener Psydtoanalytisdten Vereinigung gehaltenen Vortrag Zur Genese des Fetiscbismus< (Jones, 1962a, 351). Freud war d a t r i a l ~gerade im Begriff, die Analyse des Rattenmannesc (1909 d) fur den Druckvorzubereiten, und dort erwahnt er einen neuen Gesicbtspunkt - namlich den


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l150 FETISHISManalysis (1909d) for publication, and in it he mentioned afresh point-the connection of fetishism with pleasure in smell(ibid., 10,247)-which he enlarged upon in a footnote added tothe Three Essays in its second edit ion ofl910 (ibid., 7, 155). Butsoon afterwards a new and more important connection musthave occurred to him, for this same added footnote containedthe first assertion that the fetish stands for the missing penisof the woman, which had figured prominently among theinfantile sexual theories to which he had recently devoted apaper (1908c), ibid., 9, 215- 18. This new explanation of thefetish was also mentioned (as Freud remarks on p. 153n. below)in his study on Leonardo (1910c), ibid., 11, 96, published verysoon after the Three Essays footnote.Th e special qu es tion of the origin of foot-fetishism (referredto in the present paper, p. 155 below) at tracted Freud's attention a few years later. On March 11, 1914, he read anotherpaper to the Vienna Psycho-Analytical Society, on 'A Case ofFoot-Fetishism'. This too remains unpublished, but this timewe fortunately have a summary of it from Ernest Jones (1955,342-3). Th e explanation of the choice of the foot as a fetishapproach to the woman's genitals from below-, which wasarrived at there, was published in a further addition to thesame footnote of the Three Essays in its third edition of 1915.Another similar case history was reported very briefly by Freudin Lecture XXII of his Introduct()ry Lectures (1916-17). But. though the present paper is of importance as bringing togetherand enlarging on Freud's earlier views on fetishism, its majorinterest lies in a very different direction-namely, in a freshrnetapsychological development which it introduces. Forseveral years past Freud had been using the concept of 'disavowal' ('Verleugnung' ) especially in relation to children'sreactions to the observation of the anatomical distinction between the sexes. 1 And in the present paper, basing himself onfresh clinical observations, he puts forward reasons for supposing that this 'disavowal' necessarily implies a split in thesubject's ego. At the end of his life Freud took this questionagain an d widened its scope: in an unfinished and posthumously

1 See, for instance, the paper dealing explicitly with that subject(1925j) as well as the earlier ones on 'The Infantile Gen ital Organization' (1923e), 'The Economic Problem of Masochism' (1924c) an d 'TheLoss of Reality in Neurosis and Psychosis' (1924e).

Zusammenhang des Fctiscbismus mit der Riedtlust (Studienausgabe, Bd. 1,S. 102) -, uber den er sich in einer den Drei Abhandlungen anlaBiich de r ~ e i -ten Auflage 1910 hinzugefiigten Fufinote naher ausla6t (Studienausgabe,Bd. 5, S. 65, Anm. 2). Bald darauf mu6 ihm eine weitere, nodt widuigereVerbindung aufgegangen sein, denn die gleiche nachgetragene Anmerkungenthalt zu m erstenmal die Behauptung, der Fetisch ersetze de n vermi6tenPenis des Weibes, der in den infantilen Sexualtheorien eine so groBe Rollespielt; diesen Theorien hatte er kurz zuvor eine Arbeit gewidmet (1908hvgl. StNditnausgabt, Bd. 5, S. 176-8. Diese neue ErkHirung des Fetisches wird(wie Freud unten, S. 384, Anm . 1, erwahnt) auch in der Studie uber Leonardo(1910c, Studienau!gabe, Bd. 10, S. 122), angefiihrt, die schr bald nadt derEinfiigung )_en:!' FuBn_ote in die Drei Abhandlungtn hcrauskam.Die spezielle Fragc des Ursprungs des FuBfetischismus (auf die in der vor- liegendcn Arbeit, S. 386, unten, Bezug gcnommcn wird) fcsschc Freuds Aufmerksamkeit einige Jahre spatcr. Am I t . Mar7. 191-4 hielt cr, wicderum vo rdcr Wiener PsydtOanalytisdlen Vereinigung, einen Vortrag, betitclt Ein Fallvon FuBfetischismus


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- - - - - - - -- - -- --EDITOR'S NOTE 151

published paper on 'Splitting of the Ego in the Process ofDefence' (1940e [1938]) and in the last a r ~ g r a p h s of ChapterVIII of An Outline of Psycho-Ana[ysis (1940a [1938]). Butthough fetishism is specially considered in both these works,Freud there points out that this 'splitting of the ego' is notpeculiar to fetishism but is in fact to be found in many othersituations in which the ego is faced with the necessity of constructing a defence, and that it occurs not only in disavowal butalso in repression.11 It is perhaps not entirely fanciful to see a beginning of these ideu

in a paper sent by Freud to Fliess on january I, 1896 (Freud, 1950a,Draft K). In that paper Freud speaks of the final stage of the 'neuroseso{ defence' as involving a 'malfonn ation' or 'alteration' of the ego.Something similar is even to be found still earlier, in the third section ofthe first paper on the neuro-psychoses of defence (1B94a).

< i f f ~ n t l i < h t c n Arb"it iibcr Die J m ~ p : t l t u n g im Abwchrvorgang (1940 t (193S]),untcn, 5. 391 If., und in "" " IN7.t('n A b ~ a t 7 . c n vo n Kapitcl VIII dc r StudieAbriP der Psychoanalyse (1940 a [ 1938)). Obwohl in bcidcn Arbeitcn spe.ziell

den Fctis


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FETISHISMIN the last few years I have had an opportunity of studyinganalytically a number of men whose object-choice was dominated by a fetish. There is no need to expect that these peoplecame to analysis on account of their fetish. For though no doubta fetish is recognized by its adherents as an abnormality, it isseldom felt by them as the symptom of an ailment accompaniedby suffering. Usually they arc quite satisfied with it, or evenpraise the way in which it cases their erotic life. As a rule,therefore, the fetish made its appearance in analysis as asubsidiary finding.

For obvious reasons the details of these cases must be withheld from publication; I cannot, therefore, show in what wayaccidental circumstances have contributed to the choice of afetish. Th e most extraordinary case seemed to me to be one inwhich a young man ha d exalted a certain sort of 'shine on thenose' into a fetishistic precondition. Th e surprising explanationof was that the patient had hecn brought up in an Englishnursery bu t ha d later come to Germany, where he forgot hismother-tongue almost completely. Th e fetish, which originatedfrom his earliest childhood, had to be understood in English,not German. The 'shine on the nose' [in German 'Glanz arifderNase']-was in reality a 'glance at the nose'. Th e nose was thusthe fetish, which, incidentally, he endowed at will with theluminous shine which was not perceptible to others.In every instance, the meaning and the purpose of the fetishturned out, in analysis, to be the same. I t revealed itself sonaturally and seemed to me so compelling that I am preparedto expect the same solution in all cases of fetishism. When nowI announce that the fetish is a substitute for the penis, I shallcertainly create disappointment; so I hasten to add that it is nota substitu te for any chance penis, but for a particular and quitespecial penis that had been extremely important in early childhood bu t ha d later been lost. That is to say, it should normallyhave been given up, bu t the fetish is precisely designed topreserve it from extinction. To pu t it more plainly: the fetish isa substitute for the woman's (the mother's) penis that the little152

Fetischismus I. I

In den letzten Jahren hatte ich Gclegenheit, cine Anzahl von Mannern,deren Objektwahl von einem Fetisch behcrrscht war, analytisch zu studieren. Man braucht nicht zu crwarten, daB diese Personen des Fetischwegcn die Analyse aufgesucht hatten, denn der Fetisch wird wohl vonseinen Anhangern als cine Abnormitiit erkannt, aber nur selten als einLeidenssymptom empfundcn; mcist sind sic mit ihm recht zufriedenoder lobcn sogar die Erleichterungcn, die er ihrem Liebesleben bietet.Der Fetisch spielte also in der Regel die Rolle cines Nebenbefundes.Die Einzclhciten dieser Faile entziehen siCh aus naheliegenden Grundender Veroffentlichung. Ich kann darum auch nicht zeigen, in welcherWeise zufallige Umstande zur Auswahl des Fetisch beigetragen haben.Am merkwiirdigsten erschicn ein Fall, in dem ein junger Mann einengewissen ,.GJanz auf der N a s e ~ zur fetischistischen Bedingung erhobenhatte. Das fand seine iibcrraschcnde AufkHirung durch die Tatsache,daB der Patient cine englischc Kinderstube gehabt hatte, danrt aber nachDeutsdlland gckommcn war, wo cr seine Muttcrspradle fast vollkommcn vcrgaB. Dcr aus den crstcn Kindcrzcitcn stamincnde Fetisdl warnicht deutsd1, sondcrn cnglisch zu lcsen, der >tGianz auf dcr Nase wareigentlich cin Blick auf die Nase (glance =Blick), die Nase war alsoder Fetisdl, dem er iibrigens nach seinem Belieben jenes besondereGlanzl idtt vcrlieh, das andere nicht wahrnehmen konnten.Die Auskunft, welchc die Analyse iiber Sinn und Absicht des Fetischgab, war in allen Fallen die namliche. Sie ergab sich so ungezwungenund erschien mir so zwingcnd, daB idl bereit bin, dieselbe Losung allgemein fur aile Faile von Fetisdtismus zu erwarten. Wenn ich nun mittcile, der Fetisch ist ein Penisersatz, so werde ich gewiB Enttauschunghervorrufen. Ich beeile mich darum hinzuzufiigen, nicht der Ersatz cinesbcliebigen, sondern cines bestimmtcn, ganz besonderen Penis, der infriihcn Kindcrjahren eine groBc Bedeutung hat, aber spater verlorengeht. Das heiBt: er sollte normalerweise aufgegeben werden, abergerade der Fetisch ist dazu bestimmt, ihn vor dem Untergang zu behiiten. Urn es klarer zu sagcn, der Fetisch ist der Ersatz fur den Phallus


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FETISHISM 153boy once believed in and-for reasons familiar to us-does notwant to give up.lWhat happened, therefore, was that the boy refused to takecognizance of the fact of his having perceived that a womandoes no t possess a penis. No, that could n!Jt be true: for i f awoman ha d been castrated, then his own possession of a peniswas in danger; an d against that there rose in rebellion thepOrtion of his narcissism which Nature has, as a precaution,attached to that particular organ. In later life a grown man mayperhaps experience a similar panic when the cry goes up thatThrone an d Altar are in danger, and similar illogical consequences will ensue. I f am not mistaken, Laforgue would sayin this case that the boy 'scotomizes' his perception of thewoman's lack of a penis. 3 A new technical term is justified whenit describes a new fact or emphasizes it. This is not so here. Th eoldest word in our psycho-analytic terminology, 'repression',already relates to this pathological process. I f we wanted todifferentiate more sharply between the vicissitude of the idea asdistinct from that of the a./feet, 3 and reserve the word 'Verdriingung' ['repression'] for the affect, then the correct Germanword for the vicissitude of the idea would be 'Verleugmmg'['disavowal'].' 'Scotomization' seems to me particularlyunsuitable, for it suggests that the perception is entirely wiped

1 This interpretation was made as early as 1910, in my study onLeonardo da Vinci, without any reasons being given for it. [Standard Ed.,11, 96. Cf. Editor 's Note above, p. 150.] I I correct myself, however, by adding that I have the best reasons forsupposing that Laforgue would not say anything of the sort. It is clearfrom his own remarks [Laforgue, 1926] that 'scotomization' is a termwhich derives from descriptions of dementia praecox, which does notarise from a carrying-over of psycho-analytic concepts to the psychosesan d which has no application to developmental processes or to theformation of neuroses. In his exposition in the text of his paper, theauthor has been at pains to make this incompatibility clear. [Cf. 'Repression' (1915d), Standard Ed., 14, 152f. and the Appendixto the first paper on the neuro-psychoses of defence (1894a).]' [Some discussion of Freud's use of this term and of the Englishrendering of it appears in an Editor's footnote to the paper on 'TheInfantile Genital Organization' (1923e), Standard Ed. , 19, 143. I t may beremarked that in Chapter VIII of the Outline of Psycho-Analysis (1940a[1938]) Freud makes a different distinction between the uses of the twowords: 'repression' applies to defence against internal instinctualdemands and 'disavowal' to defence against the claims of externalreality.]

FetisdJismusdes Wcibcs (dcr Mutter), an den das Knablcin geglaubt ha t und au f denes- wir wissen warum- nid1t verzid1ten will 1Dcr Hergang wa r also der, daB dcr Knabe sid1 gcwcigert hat, die Tatsadlc seiner Wahrnchmung, daB das Weib kcinen Penis besitzt, zu rKcnntnis zu nchmcn. Ncin, das kann nid1t wahr scin, denn wcnn dasWeib kastricrt ist, ist sein cigcner Pcnisbcsitz bcdroht, und dagcgenstraubt sich das Stuck NarziBmus, mit dcm die Natur vorsorglich geradcdiescs Organ ausgcstattct hat. Eine ahnliche Panik wird vielleicht de rErwachsenc spater crleben, wcnn der Schrci ausgegeben wird, Thronund Altar sind in Gefahr, und sic wird zu ahnlich unlogischen Konsequenzen fiihrcn. Wcnn ich nicht irrc, wiirdc Laforgue in diesem Failesagcn, dcr Knabe skotomisiert die Wahrnchmung des Penismangelsbcim Wcibc 2 Ein neucr Terminus ist dann bercchtigt, wcnn er einenncucn Tatbcstand bcsd1rcibt odcr hcraushcbt. Das liegt hicr nicht vor;das altcste Sti.ick unsercr psychoanalytischcn Tcrminologie, das Wort Vcrdrangung, bczicht sid1 bereits au f diesen pathologischen Vorgang. Will man in ihm das Sdticksal der Vorstcllung von dcm desAffekts scharfcr trcnncn 3, den Ausdruck Verdrangung fiir den Affektrescrvicrcn, so ware fur das Schicksal der Vorstellung ,. Verleugnungdie richtige dcutschc Bczcichnung 4 Skotomisation scheint mir besondcrs ungccignet, denn cs wcckt die Idee, als ware die Wahrnehmungglatt wcggewischt worden, so daB das Ergebnis d ~ s s e l b e ware, wieI Die$c Deutung ist bcreits 1910 in mciner Sduill. Eint K ndbtitstrinntrung dts Lto-nardo da Vinci ohnc Dcgriindung mitgctcilt worden. [Studitnausgabt, Dd. 10, S. 122..Ygl. tlic Editorismc Vorbcmcrkung, oben, S. 381 f. ]! Jch beridttigc mid! aber sclbst, indem ich hinzufiige, daB im die besten Griindc habc:\nzunchmcn, L:\forgue wiir


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I JM FETISHISMout, so that the result is the same as when a visual impressionfalls on the blind spot in the retina. In the situation we areconsidering, on the contrary, we see that the perception haspersisted, an d that a very energetic action has been undertakento maintain the disavowal. It is not true that, after the child hasmade his observation of the woman, he has preserved unaltered his belief that women have a phallus. He has retained thatbelief, but he has also given it up. In the conflict between theweight of the unwelcome perception and the force of hiscounter-wish, a compromise has been reached, as is only possibleunder the dominance of the unconscious laws of thought-theprimary processes. Yes, in his mind the woman has got a penis,in spite of everything; but this penis is no longer the same as itwa s before. Something else has taken its place, has beenappointed its substitute, as it were, and now inherits theiJ1terest which was formerly directed to its predecessor. But thisinterest suffers an extraordinary increase as well, because thehorror of castration has set up a memorial to itself in thecreation of this substitute. Furthermore, an aversion, which isnever absent in any fetishist, to the real female genitals remainsa stigma indelehile of the repression that has taken place. We cannow sec what the fetish achieves and what it is that maintainsit . I t remains a token of triumph over the threat of castrationan d a protection against it. It also saves the fetishist frombecoming a homosexual, by endowing women with thecharacteristic which makes them tolerable as sexual objects. Inlater life, the fetishist feels that he enjoys yet another advantagefrom his substitute for a genit al. Th e meaning of he fetish is notknown to other people, so the fetish is not withheld from him:it is easily accessible an d he can readily obtain the sexualsatisfaction attached to it . What other men have to woo andmake exertions for can be had by the fetishist with no troubleat all.

Probably no male human being is spared the fright ofcastration at the sight of a female genital. Why some peoplebecome homosexual as a consequence of that impression, whileothers fend it off by creating a fetish, an d the great majoritysurmount it, we are frankly not able to explain. It is possiblethat, among all the factors at work, we do not yet know thosewhich ar e decisive for the rare pathological results. We must becontent i f we can explain what has happened, and may for the

.wcnn cin Gcsidltscindnu:k auf (.fen blindcn I ~ l c c k dcr Nctz.haut fielc.Aber unscre Situation zcigt im Gcgentcil, daR die Wahrnehmung gebliebcn ist und daR cine schr cncrgischc Aktion unternommen wurde,ihrc Verlcugnung aufrcchtzuhaltcn. Es ist nicht ric:htig, daR das Kind sich nach seiner Beobachtung am Weibe den Glauben an den P h a l l ~Weibes unverandert gerettet hat. Es ha t ihn bewahrt, aber auch aufgegebcn; im Konflikt zwischen dcm Gewicht der uner":'iinschten Wahr nehmung und der Starke des Gcgenwunschcs ist es zu einem KompromiR gckommcn, wie cs nur untcr dcr Hcrrschafl: der unbcwuBten Denkgcsctze- dcr Primarvorgange- moglidt ist. Ja, das Wcib hat im Psychischcn dcnnoch cinen Penis, aber dicscr Penis ist nicht mehr dasselbe,das cr fri.iher war. Etwas andcres ist an seine Stelle getreten, ist sozusagcn zu seinem Ersatz crnannt worden und ist nun der Erbe des Inter-. esses, das sich dem friiheren zugewendet hatte. Dies Interesse erfahrtaber noch cine auRerordentliche Steigcrung, wcil der Abscheu vor derKastration sidt in dcr Schaffung dieses Ersatzes ein Denkmal gcsetzthat. Als stigma indelebile dcr stattgehabtcn Vcrdrangung blcibt auchdie Entfremdung gegcn das witkliche weibliche Genitale, die man beikeinem Fetismisten vermiBt. Man iiberblickt jetzt, was der Fetischleistct und wodurch er gehalten wird. Er bleibt das Zeimen des Triumphes iiber die Kastrationsdrohung und der Schutz gegen sic, er erspartes dem Fetischisten auch, ein Homosexucller zu werden, indem er demWeib jencn Charakter verlciht, durch den es als Sexualobjekt ertraglichwird. Im spatcrcn Leben glaubt der Fetischist noch einen andcren Vorteil seines Genitalersatzcs zu genieBen. Ocr Fetisch wird von anderen nicht in seiner Bedeutung erkannt, darum auch nicht verweigcrt, er istIeicht zuganglid1, die an ilm gcbundcnc scxucllc Befricdigung ist bequem zu haben. Urn was andere Manner wcrbcn und sim miihcn miissen, das mamt dem Fctischistcn keine Beschwerde.Der Kastrationssdtrcck beim Anblick des weiblid1cn Genitales bleibtwahrscheinlich keincm mannlichcn Wesen crspart. Warum die eineninfolge dicses Eindruckcs homosexucll wcrden, die anderen ihn durchdie Smopfung cines Fctisch abwehren und die iibergroBe Mehrzahl ihniiberwindet, das wissen wir freilich nicht zu crkHiren. Moglich, daB wirunter dcr Anzahl dcr zusammenwirkenden Bedingungen dicjenigennoch nicht kennen, welche fiir die scltencn pathc>logischen AusgangemaRgebcnd sind; im iibrigcn miissen wir zufrieden sein, wenn wir et klarcn konnen, was l!cschehen ist, und diirfen die Aufgabe, zu erklaren,


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FETISHISM 155present leave on on e side the task ofexplaining why somethinghas not happened.One would expect that the organs or objects chosen assubstitutes for the absent female phallus would be such asappear as symbols of the penis in other connections as well.This may happen often enough, bu t is certainly no t a decidin g factor. I t seems rather that when the fetish is institutedsome process occurs which reminds one of the stoppingof memory in traumatic amnesia. As in this latter case, thesubject's interest comes to a halt half-way, as it were; it is asthough the last impression before the uncanny an d traumaticon e is retained as a fetish. Thus the foot or shoe owes itspreference as a fetish--or a part of i t - to the circumstance thatth e inquisitive boy peered at the woman's genitals from below,from he r legs up ; 1 fu r an d velvet-as has long been suspected- a r e a fixation of he sight of he pubic hair, which should havebeen followed by the longed-for sight of the female member;pieces of underclothing, which are so often chosen as a fetish,crystallize the moment of undressing, the last moment in whichthe woman could still be regarded as phallic. But I do notmaintain that it is invariably possible to discover with certaintyhow th e fetish was determined.

An investigation of fetishism is strongly recommended to anyone who still doubts the existence of the castration complex orwho ca n still believe that fright at the sight of the femalegenital has some other ground-for instance, that it is derivedfrom a supposed recollection of the trauma of birth.For me, the explanation of fetishism ha d another point oftheoretical interest as well. Recently, along quite speculativelines, I arrived at the proposition that the essential differencebetween neurosis and psychosis was that in the former the ego,in th e service of reality, suppresses a piece of the id, whereasin a psychosis it lets itself be induced by the id to detach itselffrom a piece of eality. I returned to this theme once again lateron . Bu t soon after this I ha d reason to regret that I ha dventured so far. In the analysis of wo young men I learned thateach-one when he was two years old and the other when hewas t en-had failed to take cognizance of the death of his

I [Cf. Editor's Note, p. 150 above.] 1 (Cf. Rank, 1924, 22-4.] 1 'Neurosis and Psychosis' (19246) and 'The Loss of Reality inNeurosis and Psychosis' (1924e).I.P. XXI-L

warum etwas nicht g ~ s d u : h c n ist, vorliu fig ~ ~ ; - ; ~ i ; ; n ,Es licgt nahe zu crwartcn, daB zum Ersatz des vcrmiBten weiblichenPhallus solche Organc odcr Objckte gcwahlt wcrden, die auch sonst alsSymbolc den Penis vcrtrctcn. Das mag oft genug stattfindcn, ist abergewiB nidtt cntschcidcnd. Bci dcr Einsetzung des Fctisch scheint vielmehr ein Vorgang eingehalten zu werdcn, der an das Haltmachen derErinnerung bei traumatischcr Amnesic gemahnt. Audt hier bleibt dasInteresse wie untcrwegs stchen, wird ctwa der letzte.Eindruck vor demunhcimlidtcn, traumatischen, als Fetisch festgehalten. So verdankt dcrFuB odcr Schuh seine Bevorzugung als Fetisch - oder cin StUck derselben - dem Urnstand, daB die Neugicrde des Knaben von unten, vonden Beinen her nadt dcm weiblidten Genitale gcspaht hat 1; Pelz un dSamt fixicren- wie langst vcrmutct wurde- den Anblick der Genitalbehaarung, au f den der crschntc des weiblichen Glicdes hatte folgensoli en; die so haufig zum Fctisch crkorcncn Waschcstiicke haltcn denMoment der Entkleidung fest, den letzten, in dem man das Weib nodtfUr phallisdt halten durftc. Ich will abcr nicht behaupten, daB man dieDeterminierung des Fctisch jedcsmal mit Sicherhcit durchschaut. DieUntersudtung des F e t i ~ c h i s m u ~ ist all dcnen dringend zu empfehlen, dienoch an dcr Existcnz des Kastrationskomplexes zweifeln oder die meincn konncn, der Schreck vor dcm wciblichen Genitale habe einen andercn Grund, Ieite sich z. B. von der s u p p o ~ i e r t e n Erinnerung an dasTrauma der Gcburt ab 1 Fur midt hattc die Aufklarung des Fctisdfnodt cin andcrcs thcorctischcs In ercssc.Ich habe kiirzlidt auf rein spckulativem Wcge den Satz gefundcn, derwcscntlidte Unterschicd zwischen Ncurosc und Psychose liege darin, daBbci crstcrer das Ich im Dicnste dcr Rcalitat cin Sti.ick des Es unterer Realitauvcrlust bci Ncurose und Psycho5C< (1924 t>) [be de im vorlicgcntlcn Damf.J.


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156 FETISHISMbeloved father-had 'scotomized' i t -and yet neither of themhad developed a psychosis. Thus a piece of re:tlity which wasundoubtedly important had been disavowed by the ego, justas the unwelcome fact of women's castration is disavowed infetishists. I also began to suspect that similar occurrences inchildhood are by no means rare, and !'believed that I had beenguilty of an error in my characterization of neurosis andpsychosis. It is true that there was one way ou t of the difficulty.My formula needed only to hold good where there was a higherdegree of differentiation in the psychical apparatus; thingsmight be permissible to a child which would entail severeinjury to an adult.But further research led to another solution of the contradiction. It turned ou t that the two young men had no more'scotomized' their father's death than a fetishist does the.castration of women. I t was only one current in their mentallife that had not recognized their father's death; there wasanother current which took full account of that f..'lct. Theattitude which fitted in with the wish and the attitude whichfitted in with reality existed side by side. In one of my two casesthis split had formed the basis of a moderately severe obsessional neurosis. The pati ent oscillated in every situation in lifebetween two assumptions: the one, that his father was stillalive and was hindering his activities; the other, opposite one,that he was entitled to regard himself as his father's successor.I ma y thus keep to the expectation that in a psychosis the onecurrent-that which fitted in with reality-would have in factbeen absent.Returning to my description of fetishism, I may say thatthere are many and weighty additional proofs of the dividedattitude of fetishists to the question of the castration of women.In very subtle instances both the disavowal and the affirmationof the castration have found their way into the construction ofthe fetish itself. This was so in the case of a man whose fetishwas an athletic support-belt which could also be worn asbathing drawers. This piece ofclothing o v ~ r e d up the genitalsentirely and concealed the distinction between them. Analysisshowed that it signified that women were castrated and thatthey were not castrated; and it also allowed of the hypothesisthat men were castrated, for all these possibilities could equallywell be concealed under the belt-the earliest rudiment of

genommen, ,.skotomisiertf< batten - und doch hatte keincr von heidencine Psydtosc cntwickelt. Da war also cin gcwiB bedeutsames Stuck derRealitat vom Ich verleugnct worden, ahnlich wie bcim Fetischisten dieunlicbsarnc Tatsachc der Kastration des Weibes. lch begann auch zuahnen, daB analoge Vorkommnisse im Kinderleben keineswegs seltensind, und konnte mich des Irrtums in der Charakteristik von Neuroscund Psychosc fur iiherfiihrt halten. Es blich zwar cine Auskunft offen;meine Formel brauchte sich erst bci cincm hoheren Grad von Differenzierung im psychischen Apparat zu bewahren; dem Kind konntestat tct scin, was sich beim Erwadtscncn durch schwere Schadigung strafen muRte. Aber wcitcre Untersuchungen fiihrten zu einer andercnLosung des Widerspruchs.Es stellte sich namlich heraus, daB die heiden jungen Manner den Toddes Vaters cbcnsowcnig ,.skotomisicrt hattcn wie die Fetischisten dieKastration des Weibes. Es war nur cine Stromung in ihrem Seelenlehen,wclche den Tod des Vaters nicht anerkannt hatte; es gab auch cineandere, die dieser Tatsache vollkommen Rechnung trug; die wunschgerechte wie die realitatsgcrechte Einstellung hestanden neheneinander.Bel dcm einen meiner heiden Faile war diese Spaltung die Grundlageeiner mittclsdtwcren Zwangsneurosc gcworden; in allen Lebenslagenschwankte er zwischen zwei Voraussct"l.\ingcn, dcr einen, daR der Vaternoch am Leben sci und seine Tatigkeit h c h i n d e r e ~ und dcr entgegengesetztcn, daB cr das Recht habe, sich als den Nachfolger des verstorbencn Vaters zu bctrachten. Ich kann also die Erwartung festhalten,daR im Fall dcr Psychose die cine, die rcalitatsgercchte Stromung, wirklidt vcrmiBt wcrdcn wiirdc.Wenn ich zur Bcschrcibung des Fctischismus zuriickkehre, habe ich anzufiihrcn, daB cs noch zahlreiche und gewichtige Beweisc fur die zwiespaltige Einstcllung des Fetisdtisten zur Frage der Kastration des Weibcs gibt. In ganz raffiniertcn Fallen ist cs dcr Fetisch selbst, in dcsscnAufbau sowohl die Vcrlcugnung wie die Dchauptung dcr KastrationEingang gefundcn habcn. So war cs bci cincm Manne, dessen Fetisch incinem SchamgUrtcl hestand, wie cr auch als Schwimmhose gctragenwerdcn kann. Diescs Gewandstiick vcrdcckte iiberhaupt die Genitalienund den Untcrschied der Gcnitalicn. Nach dem Ausweis der Analysebcdcutctc cs sowohl, daR das Weib kastriert sci, als auch, daR es nichtkastricrt sci, und lieB Uberdies die Annahme der Kastration des Manneszu, dcnn aile diesc Moglichkcitcn konnten sich hinter dcm Giirtel, dessen


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FETISHISM 157which in his childhood ha d been the fig-leaf on a statue. Afetish of this sort, doubly derived from contrary ideas, is ofcourse especially durable. In other instances the dividedattitude shows itself in what the fetishist docs with his fetish,whether in reality or in his imagination. To point ou t that hereveres his fetish is not the whole story; in many cases he treatsit in a way which is obviously equivalent to a representation ofcastration. This happens particularly if he has developed astrong identification with his father and plays the part of thelatter; for it is to him that as a child he ascribed the woman'scastration. Affection an d hostility in the treatment of the fetish-which run parallel with the disavowal an d the acknowledgment of castration-are mixed in unequal proportions indifferent cases, so that the one or the other is more dearlyrecognizable. We seem here to approach an understanding,even if a distant one, of the behaviour of the 'coupeur de nattes'1In him the need to carry ou t the castration which he disavowsJtascome to the front. His action contains in itself the twomutually incompatible assertions: 'the woman has still got apenis' and 'my father has castrated the woman'. Anothervariant, which is also a paralle l to fetishism in social psychology,might be seen in the Chinese custom of mutilating the femalefoot an d then revering it like a fetish after it has been mutilated.I t seems as though the Chinese male wants to thank the womanfor having submitted to being castrated.In conclusion we ma y say that the normal prototype offetishes is a man's penis, just as the normal prototype of nferiororgans is a woman's real small penis, the clitoris.2

1 [A pervert who enjoys cutting off the hair of females. Part of thepresent explanation was given by Freud in his study of Leonardo(1910c), Standard Ed., 11, 96.] [This is an allusion to Adler's insistence on 'organ-inferiority' as thebasis of all neuroses. Cf. a footnote to the paper on 'Some PsychicalConsequences of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes' (1925j),Stand4rd Ed., 19, 253- 4, and a longer discussion in Lecture XXXI ofthe New lntroduclilry uctures (1933a).]

erster Ansatz in der Kindheit das Feigenblatt einer Statue gewesen war,gleich gut verbcrgcn. Ein solchcr Fetisch, aus Gegensatzen doppelt gekniipft, halt natiirlich besondcrs gut. In anderen zeigt sidt die Zwiespaltigkeit dem, was der Fetischist - in der Wirklichkeit oder in derPhantasie- an seinem Fetisdt vornimmt. Es ist nicht erschopfend, wennman hervorhebt, daB er den Fetisch vcrehrt; in vielen Fallen behandeltcr ihn in einer Weise, die offcnbar einer Darstellung der Kastrationgleichkommt. Dies geschieht bcsonders dann, wenn sich cine starkeVateridentifizierung entwickelt hat, in der Rolle des Vaters, denn .diescm hatte das Kind die Kastration des Weibes zugeschrieben. Die Zartlichkeit und die Feindseligkeit in der Behandlung des Fetisch, die derVerleugnung und der Anerkennung der Kastration gleichlaufen, vermengen sich bei verschiedenen Fallen in ungleichern: MaBe, so daB daseine oder das andere deutlicher kenntlich wird. Von hier aus glaubtman, wenn auch aus der Ferne, das Benehmen des Zopfabschneiders 1zu verstehen, bci dem sich das Bcdiirfnis, die geleugnete Kastration auszufiihrcn, vorgedrangt hat. Seine Handlung vereinigt in sich die heidenmiteinander unvcrtraglichcn Behauptungen: das Weib hat seinen Penisbehalten, und der Vater hat das W cib kastricrt. E ine andere Variante,aber auch eine volkerpsychologische Parallele zum Fetischismus mochteman in der Sitte der Chinesen erblicken, 'den weiblichen FuB zuerst zuverstiimmeln und den verstiimmelten dann wie einen Fctisch zu verehren. Man konnte meincn, der chinesische Mann will es dem Weihedanken, daB es sid1 der Kastration unterworfen hat.SchlieBlich darf man es aussprechen, das Normalvorbild des Fetisch istder Penis des Mannes, wie das des mindcrwcrtigen Organs der realekleine Penis des Wcibcs, die Klitoris ' l [Die hier gegebene Erklarung wurde zum Teil schon in der Leonardo-Studie (1910c),Studitnausgabt, Bd. 1.0, S. 122, vorgelcgt.J .I [Dies ist eine Anspiclung aur Adlcrs Bctonung dcr Organminderwertigk.eit.i alsder Grund)agc allcr Ncuroscn. Vgl. cine Fufinote in der Arbeit tEinige psychischeFolgen des anatomischen Geschlcchtsuntcrschiedsc (1925 j), studitnausgabt, Bd. S,S. 262, Anm. I, und cine langcre Erortcrung in dcr 31. Vorlcsung der Ntutn Fol&t(19334), Studitn4fusg4fbt, Bd. 1, S. 503- 4.]

sigmund freud - fetishism

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