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Dr. James M. Cantor |
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One of the things I enjoy about participating
in listserv’s with colleagues is the opportunity it provides for discussion
of these kinds of questions. I am
grateful to David Cohen from the division of forensic psychiatry in Is there a professional term for one who derives sexual pleasure from watching himself masturbate in the mirror? I assume I’m not the only one who sees cases like this (albeit only 2 over the last 5 years—both with totally different personality disorders and sex crimes). Does anyone have a reference for literature on the phenomenon? Thanks, David Cohen Dear David, I know
many cases of people who have engaged in such behavior, but they all had an
additional quality to them. Although
these folks were looking into a mirror overtly, they were also doing
something else covertly: They were envisioning themselves in some other
form. Most commonly, these were men
picturing themselves as women or as having female anatomy (vulvas or breasts
or both), but there are also other people who picture themselves as infants,
and the literature mentions still others, such as being an amputee or an
animal. Often times, such people
include in their masturbation habits “props” to enhance their experience,
such as panties, diapers, or other articles that help them to evoke the
imagery they enjoy. There
is, of course, little if any harm to any of these activities in themselves,
but men who were motivated by a paraphilia to commit a sexual offense will
sometimes also have other paraphilias that are harmless (albeit
stigmatized). It would be an error to
generalize from paraphilic sexual offenders to all people with atypical
sexual interests. Indeed, the Internet
contains many community forums of, by, and for people who enjoy their
interests and prosocially integrate them into their lives. One such forum, understanding.infantilism.org
attributed to B. Terrance Grey, provides an insightful insider’s look into
people who are sexually aroused from envisioning themselves as infants. Other
than “autoeroticism” or “erotic target location error,” the scientific names
for these situations follow—not from the overt behavior—but from the content
of the covert fantasies: autogynephilia
for men fantasizing that they are women, apotemnophilia
for people fantasizing that they are amputees, etc. For more on this, I’d recommend
Anne Lawrence’s recent article: Lawrence,
A. A. (2009). Erotic target location errors: An underappreciated paraphilic
dimension. Journal of Sex Research, 46,
194–215. Ray Blanchard, Howard Barbaree,
and I also include some relevant discussion in: Cantor,
J. M., Blanchard, R., & Barbaree, H. E. (2009). Sexual disorders. In P.
H. Blaney & T. Millon (Eds.), Finally, you might be interested
in the classic description by: Freund,
K., & Blanchard, R. (1993). Erotic target location errors in male gender
dysphorics, paedophiles, and fetishists. British
Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 558–563. — James M. Cantor, PhD, |
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