The symbolic penises used by females todeactivate the male vagina anxiety, are the ones which 'irresistibly attracts' the groupof males in question: certainshoes, boots, hairdos, nails, lipstick, earrings, skirts, etc.
A phenomenon situated in a dimension similar to the mechanisms responsible for
'fetishism' is what Freud calls 'debasement'('On the Universal Tendencyto Debasement in
the Sphere of Love', 1912). What is understoodbythis, is the
need todowngrade the female bythe male, in order to be able to
perform the sexual act, the need to move the female from
the category of 'person', to whom 'affection' isthe felt to the category of
'object' to which 'sexual arousal' is directed.
The need to thismechanism comes from the "Oedipusconflict" - the natural desire of
the male child for sensual love with the mother/sister, which is forbidden
bythe 'law', personified by the father. 'Castration anxiety' plays a
part in this drama as well -
it is this threat ofbeing punished which compels the boy to repress anddenyhis desire
for the mother. But this also means a mixing of
the sensual affection feeling, with the castration
anxiety, and this anxietyis evadedbytreatingthe female in front not as a person, but as an
object.
Male potencyisdestroyed by castration anxietyand can only be maintained if the
anxietyis evaded -a modern example wouldbe a female dressed inlatex, or with a mask, or
in a uniform, or with thick lipstick andboots - anythingwhich erases the person's deeper
identityand turnsit into an object foruse. As Freud summarizes it in a later book: "At puberty
as we know, there set in new and very strong impulsions towards directly sexual aims.
In unfavorable cases theyremain separate, in the
formof sensual current, from the 'affectionate' trends offeelings
which persist." These 'unfavorable cases' are in fact quite common, even socially prevalent in
our patriarchy back in the olden daysthe 'cultured'
husband would give his affection to his wife, and save
his 'dirty' impulses for the prostitute, thus dealingwith the need
for debasement which divides 'sex' from
'love' (leading among other things to common venereal
disease, pandemic prostitution and pathologicallydissatisfied wives). Today to a large extent
'porn' plays the role of the 'brothel', allowing the male to experience those manifestations of
Steven Marcus, 'The Other Victorians' p116, Corgi Books 1969
Sigmund Freud, 'Civilization, Society and Religion' p142,
Penguin Books, 1991 ,its sexual impulses, which would
'dirty' the wife or girlfriend or any other mother substitute,
or impulseswhichwould simplynot be accepted by the other side.
With the sexual revolution changingour sexual lives rapidly, more and
more couples introduce fetishand debasement
games into their sexual lives, thus increasing the chances of what isbeing perceived as
'sexual satisfaction' - but while even these developments are
not a guarantee the achieving of full arousal and
ejaculation by the male, though the right porn the viewer's masturbatory
satisfaction is always assured.