ABSTRACT
Stoller (1975) defines perversion as ‘the erotic form of hatred’, and writes that it:
is a fantasy, usually acted out, but occasionally restricted to a daydream (either self-produced or packaged by others, that is, pornography). It is a habitual preferred aberration necessary for one’s full satisfaction, primarily motivated by hostility. By ‘hostility’ I mean a state in which one wishes to harm an object: that differentiates it from ‘aggression’, which often implies only forcefulness. The hostility in perversion takes form in a fantasy of revenge hidden in the actions that make up the perversion, and serves to convert childhood trauma to adult triumph. To create the greatest excitement, the perversion must also portray itself as an act of risk-taking. (Stoller, 1975; our italics)
While it is easy to classify male sexual perversions in this way, it is more difficult to categorize female perversions. The percentage of men attending the Portman Clinic, which has pioneered the psychotherapeutic treatment of sexual perversion in Britain, far exceeds the percentage of women.
