Embodiment and the Perversion of Desire

by Andrea Celenza, PhD

Abstract

A contemporary definition of perversion is offered that aims to reveal a form of psychic functioning as a quality of being toward others in the external world, translating to a mode of relating toward internal objects, and/or a mode of relating toward one’s body as an object. This quality of being is contrasted with perversion denoting a specific set of behaviors, as in classical conceptualizations. Two schematics illustrate healthy and perverse phenomenological positions (i.e. identifiable within the person’s preconscious or conscious perspective and experience). These positions highlight ways in which perverse modes of experiencing can be depicted, by use of internal psychic positions and the extent to which these are integrated, interpenetrate one another or are truncated and foreclosed. In particular, a perverse internal psychic mode is proposed where affective, embodied, and pre-reflective self-experience is split off or dissociated. The case of Laura is offered as an illustration of a perverse mode of being and a perverse relationship to her body. I also suggest that perverse modes of relating towards others (primarily through objectification) is more common in males whereas the objectification of one’s body is more common in females.

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 89(3), 369-398, July 2020.

Link to Online Publication [fulltext can be requested from the library].

About the Author

Andrea Celenza, PhD is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and Assistant Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School. She is also Adjunct Faculty at the NYU Post-Doctoral Program in Psychoanalysis. She has written numerous papers on love, sexuality and psychoanalysis. She has two online courses, including a blended, online program in Psychoanalytic Studies (sponsored by William James College). She is the recipient of several awards and her writings have been translated into Italian, Spanish, Korean and Russian. Her third book, entitled, Transference, Love, and Being: Essential Essays from the Field, is forthcoming. Visit Andrea Celenza’s website to learn more about her work. Dr. Celenza is in private practice in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA.

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