Perversion the Social Relation

Perversion 45result of the fright of castration, the result that passes as the normal[neurotic] one, is that, either immediately or after some considerablestruggle, the boy gives way to the threat and obeys the prohibition eitherwholly or at least in part (that is, by no longer touching his genitals withhis hand). In other words, he gives up, in whole or in part, the satisfactionof the drive" (SE XXIII, 277). This boy, however, continued tomasturbate as if no threat had been issued. He refused to give up thatjouissance in the name of the father. His nurse demanded that he give itup for his father's sake (otherwise his father would castrate him, Freudtells us), because his father would not approve, but the boy refused.Faced with the possible loss of jouissance, the pervert and the obsessivereact in different ways, Freud suggests. The obsessive submits to theloss, however reluctantly, however half-heartedly, and even if he neverstops trying to get some of that jouissance back later. 19 He gives up thatjouissance in the hope of gaining esteem, recognition, and approval—a symbolic equivalent. He loses one thing to gain another: we mightsay that he is induced to give up his narcissistic (imaginary) attachmentto his penis—which Lacan later refers to as the imaginary phallus, y the penis as invested narcissistically—and the autoerotic pleasure itgives him, to win something at the social, symbolic level. He gives up for 0, the phallus as signifier, as the socially recognized signifier ofvalue and desire. As Lacan says regarding little Hans, a boy must, insome sense, hand over his little penis to get a bigger and better one fromhis father (Seminar IV). Often the latter is not considered bigger andbetter enough, in the end. Often it is considered totally inadequate, andthe boy may feel he got a raw deal and hold it against his father forever.But some autoerotic pleasure is nevertheless yielded, given up, orhanded over by the obsessive. 20The pervert, on the other hand, does not hand that pleasure over, doesnot surrender his pleasure to the Other. Freud insists again and againthat the pervert refuses to give up his pleasure, that is, the masturbatorypleasure related (in his fantasies) to his mother or mother substitute. 21Why does one boy surrender it and another refuse? Freud sometimes appealshere to constitutional factors in explaining this refusal: perhapsthe pervert's drives are stronger than the neurotic's, and cannot be subjectedand tamed the way the neurotic's can. 22 It seems, however, that anumber of different explanations are possible. Consider the following:Clinical work and everyday observation show that mothers are often