A volume in the series, Ideas in Psychoanalysis (Series Editor, Ivan Ward). This series explains psychoanalytic concepts, their relevance to everyday life, and their ability to illuminate the nature of human society and culture. Published by Icon Books While Sigmund Freud clearly intended the psychoanalytic concept of ‘perversion’ to be free from the moral judgement that the word carries in colloquial use, the relationship of perversion to hostility and sexuality make it a troubling concept. Is perversion an emotion? Is it a form of thinking or belief? Is perversion a sexual act? Sometimes described as an acting out of unconscious fantasy, perversion combines feelings of revenge, triumph and control as a defence against experiencing trauma and helplessness. The concept of perversion is used widely within psychoanalysis to understand the unconscious dynamics of addiction, sexual abuse, delinquency, murder, sexual assault and even burglary. The concepts of narcissism, fetishism, voyeurism and sadomasochism are also useful as tools to analyse our culture, particularly in relation to film. Senior Lecturer in Visual Culture at Middlesex University, Claire Pajaczkowska teaches on the historical, social, psychoanalytic and textual analysis of art, film, design and popular culture. Her latest book is on Feminist Visual Culture. from the publisher's website
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