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Perversion: The Erotic Form of Hatred (Maresfield Library) Revised ed. Edition

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Robert J. Stoller (Author)
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4.3 out of 5 stars 3 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0946439201
ISBN-10: 0946439206
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Product Details

  • Series: Maresfield Library
  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Karnac Books; Revised ed. edition (May 30, 1986)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0946439206
  • ISBN-13: 978-0946439201
  • Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.9 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,618,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 starsAhead of its Time
By D. Davison on December 30, 1999
Format: Paperback
Robert J. Stoller was a man of intellectual force who was definitely ahead of his time. My review follows the reading of the 1975 edition of Perversion: The Erotic Form of Hatred.
I was at first cautious about reading a book from so long ago because I expected it to be dated. However, the title intrigued me. I found it to be quite an enjoyable and informing read, and it expressed views on diagnosis and labeling that are very thought provoking.
The main premise of the book is that perversion is an outlet people have for their sexual hatred and rage. It develops from the relationship with the parents from an early age, mainly from gender confusion. There is a lot of leaning on Freud's threory, but it is never accepted verbatim by the author.
Fantasy is seen as a defensive structure that develops to salvage sexual pleasure that would otherwise be lost. A person develops fantasy about a certain object, person, or way of expressing himself sexually in fantasy. From this the perversion develops. In a way, perversion is seen as a tragedy or failure of childhood turned into an adult triumph.
Where sexual pleasure was threatened to be removed because of trauma from childhood, a situation develops where the childhood situation of victim and oppressor is reversed by the fantasy. The boy/man who can not function sexually with a woman salvages his ability to have sexual pleasure by alternate means. He takes his revenge by inflicting the same humiliation and hatred on the object of his perversion that he sees as having been inflicted on himself as a child.
There is reference also to how we use diagnosis as a means of labeling persons, like homosexuals, when in actuality there is no one 'homosexual' condition but a multitude of 'homosexualities'.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsFreudians, Behaviorists, Biological Determinists, Sexual moralizers, alike get a run for their money
By Sophia Bezirganian on May 13, 2010
Format: Paperback
Dr. Robert Stoller is a master iconoclast--he manages to give quite a diverse set of characters, who espouse orthodox and often warring versions of sexual behavior and identity, their due. In writing this classic on perversions, Dr. Stoller brings to bear his knowledge and practice as a psychoanalyst, his extensive field research in pornography, his study of the work of psychologists, sex researchers and therapists, geneticists, human physiologists, and those sociologists who study gender behavior across cultures.
The real achievement in this book however, is not his incisive analysis and critiques of the above, but rather his distillation and transcending of these to hone in on a fundamental and yet neglected area of knowledge of human sexuality--the nature of DESIRE. Stoller notes that most biologically oriented research on human sexuality restricts itself to the study of EXCITEMENT, which is in fact the biological fuel for desire. Desire is where the action's at--and (he is truly astonished to find that) neither the biological nor the psychoanalytic crowd has really touched it.
"Perversions" is divided into two sections. The first is a review of the insights, flaws, and gaps of extant theories on sexual identity and preferences as summarized above. Here he also defines what he thinks distinguishes the perverse from the non-perverse. Key insights: 1. One cannot look at purely the BEHAVIOR involved, but why it is desired. Thus for example, many types of heterosexual sex can be perverse, and in turn, many homosexual forms would not be. For example, in either same or "opposite" sex activity, promiscuity is perverse when its advocate is a "Don Juan" type, who sees his target women/men as objects --simply notches on his belt. This principle leads to an important generalization: 2.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsUNUSUAL SEXUAL BEHAVIORS
By James L. Park on October 6, 2010
Format: Paperback
Robert J. Stoller, MD
Perversion:
The Erotic Form of Hatred

(New York: Pantheon, 1975)
(reprint: London, UK: Karnac Books, 1986) 240 pages

Stoller takes another look at several unusual sexual behaviors
(homosexuality, cross-dressing, transsexualism, pornography),
but he does not successfully formulate a comprehensive theory.
Childhood trauma, resulting in hostility and hatred, probably explains
only some of the unusual sex-scripts touched on in this book.
Some historical beginnings of exploration into imprinted sex-scripts.

Search the Internet for other books:
"VARIATIONS OF SEX & GENDER BIBLIOGRAPHY".

James Leonard Park, author of
Variations of Sex & Gender:
Six Phenomena Frequently Confused.
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