Anal eroticism

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Anal eroticism, in psychoanalysis, is sensuous pleasure derived from anal sensations. [1] Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, hypothesized that the anal stage of childhood psychosexual development was marked by the predominance of anal eroticism. [2]

Contents

Developmental

In 1973, the psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott spoke of "the tremendous pleasure that belongs to the doing of a motion just exactly when the impulse comes...another little orgy that enriches the life of the infant". [3] [ non-primary source needed ]

Freud, in his 1908 article Character and Anal Erotism argued that, through reaction formations and sublimation, anal eroticism could turn in later life into character traits such as obstinacy, orderliness and meanness. [4] [ non-primary source needed ] The psychoanalyst Sándor Ferenczi extended his[ who? ] findings in 1974 to cover the sublimation of anal eroticism into aesthetic experiences such as painting and sculpture, as well as into an interest in money. [5] [ non-primary source needed ] In 1946, the psychoanalyst Otto Fenichel linked anal eroticism to feelings of disgust, to masochism, and to pornography. [6] [ non-primary source needed ]

The psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva would subsequently explore anal eroticism in connection with her concept of abjection. [7]

See also

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References

  1. C. Rycroft, A Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis (1995) p. 7
  2. P. Gay, Freud (1989) p. 281-2
  3. D. W. Winnicott, The Child, the Family, and the Outside World (1973) p. 43-4
  4. Sigmund Freud, On Sexuality (PFL 7) p. 208-15
  5. Sandor Ferenczi, 'The Ontogenesis of the Interest in Money' in J. Halliday/P. Fuller eds., The Psychology of Gambling (1974) p. 264-272
  6. Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 139, 351 and 359-60
  7. F. L. Restuccia, Melancholics in Love (2000) p. 66

Further reading