ABSTRACT
Potential precursors to heterosexual women’s experience of partner infidelity are explored as these dynamics unfold within the oedipal crisis–the “betrayal” by the oedipal objects. The chapter’s thesis rests on the doubling of a girl’s experience of “deception,” encountered first in relation to the mother, then reiterated with the father. This doubling of deception may be especially pronounced for a girl as she is likely to inhabit more fully her bisexual potential in negotiating the expected shift of object choice from mother to father. “Deceived” by her primary maternal oedipal object, a girl sets forth toward her paternal oedipal object with “fidelity” already an issue and with faith in her mind’s ability to determine reality already shaken. Clinical material illustrates the assault on one’s mind, on one’s confidence to determine what is true, that is a central aspect of both oedipal and adult betrayal. Transformation of mental anguish to a more solid sense of personal security was achieved only by acknowledging the power of betrayal as lived out in the intersubjectivity of the analytic relationship.
