Author: varum
In psychoanalysis, the usage of the term pervert does not hold any moral value, it refers simply to a specific clinical structure. Perversion is different from neuroticism, psychosis or even hysteria. The perverse structure is defined by the positioning of the subject in reference to the symbolic order, the law and the jouissance of the other.
An individual performing acts deemed perverted by society does not necessarily mean they embody the structure of perversion. For instance, they might have odd fetishes, have deviant sexual sources of pleasures, but not be seen as perverted in the psychoanalytical lens. Someone might follow the rules in society, have normal sexual fantasies, yet still be categorized as a pervert in the eyes of an analyst.
Freud first touched on the topic in his “Three essays on the theory of sexuality” where perversion was defined as deviance from the biological means of reproduction. Lacan later modified the definition to “deviance from structural logic”. For Lacan, perversion is a result of the subject’s refusal to accept symbolic castration, utilizing disavowal as a mean to maintain identification with the imaginary phallus and acting as an instrument of the Other’s enjoyment.
Freud introduces two types of deviations in the pervert:Deviation in the sexual object and Deviation in the sexual aim. The first type emcompasses homosexuality, and zoophilia, where the libido is aimed towards an object instead of a mature adult.
The second category includes instances where the the arousal comes from displaced areas of the body like the anus, the mouth, ears, etc., instead of the genitals or when the sexual process halts at a preliminary stage (voyeurism, exhibitionism, sadism, masochism, etc.) and replaces the final aim of intercourse.
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