WHAT ARE PERVERSIONS?

The Freud Museum, at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead, was the home of Sigmund Freud and his family when they escaped Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. It remained the family home untilAnna Freud, the youngest daughter, died in 1982. The centrepiece of the museum is Freudsstudy, preserved just as it was during his lifetime.

Freud Museum London

A half-day symposium on sexuality, ethics and psychoanalysis
What are ‘perversions’? Some people argue that we call 'perverse' any sexual acts we do not label as ‘normal’, but the criteria for normality has varied from one era to another. The picture is complicated by the fact that many perversions have no criminal implications while others lead to serious incriminations. It is not just a question of legality, and Freud noted that few individuals sought psychological help in order to rid them of their perversions. Yet psychoanalysts usually believe that perversions do exist, and in this half-day conference the speakers will try to show in what sense this is the case, and how ‘the perversions’ manifest themselves in the consulting room and everyday behaviour. Programme Why Perversion? Sergio Benvenuto (Psychoanalyst, Rome) and Dany Nobus (Professor of Psychoanalytic Psychology, Brunel university) in conversation
When Perversion? Darian Leader (Lacanian psychoanalyst and author) A Perverse Patient's Management of a Dangerous Therapist Carine Minne (Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst) Plenary Discussion What do psychiatrists and psychoanalysts consider perverse or paraphilic today?
 Abstracts 
Sergio Benvenuto and Dany Nobus 
Why Perversion? In this wide-ranging conversation we will explore some of the ideas developed in Sergio Benvenuto's new book, in which he argues that perversion is not ego-dystonic as all neuroses are, but that it is rather a hetero-dystonic sexuality. That is, the pervert derives a “special” sexual enjoyment by in some way using the other’s subjectivity. He uses the other not as object, as we may initially imagine, but as subject. What we mean by perversion is solitary sex practiced with the willing or unwilling help of an other subject, which becomes thesine qua non of sexual enjoyment. Analysts usually see perversion as a subjective structure dominated by a process other than repression, denial or disavowal. Following Freud's explanation of fetishism, Benvenuto explores the process of disavowal in the structure of perversion. How then to extend this disavowal mechanism to all so-called perversions? What does a sadist or a voyeur, for example, disavow, and how does this disavowal lead to a specific relation to the 'law'? Carine Minne A Perverse Patient's Management of a Dangerous Therapist In this paper I present the case of a person with a life threatening perversion. While clearly pathological, this is a case where one can link the psychopathology not only to disturbed very early infantile traumatic experiences but also to a fixation on a bodily activity that all babies and toddlers are temporarily preoccupied with. Despite being a disturbing case, the aim is to show the function of the perversion, in the non-pejorative sense of the word.  Darian Leader When Perversion? Psychoanalysis distances itself from moral discourses which make judgements about sexuality based on surface behaviour. What appears to be the same behaviour can have entirely different meanings and functions for each individual. When, then, should we speak of perversion, not as a form of sexual practice but as a psychical structure?
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WHAT ARE PERVERSIONS?

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