ABSTRACT
The history of psychoanalysis has largely downplayed the importance of sex or ignored sex altogether. This seems odd, as Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, is most well known for being obsessed with sex. However, many psychotherapists and counsellors I have met over the years have told me they learnt very little about sex in their training institutes. The discoveries of the sexologists (Kinsey, Masters and Johnson, and Hite) certainly weren’t included in their curriculums. If you were interested in sex, it was assumed that you would seek further training in psychosexual therapy with a view to specialist work with clients who seek help with the more complex and extreme sexual problems. The result, for therapists working with the kind of everyday problems that come up in their consulting rooms, is the assumption that asking about their client’s sex life, if their client hasn’t specifically mentioned sex, is intrusive. ‘We don’t want to be intrusive’ has echoes of the classic excuse many parents use to avoid talking to their children about sex.
