ABSTRACT
Perversion is operating against the perception of oneself and the other as singular beings. This is actually the worst derivative of the chameleon language: the annihilation of one's authentic inner colour. Conceptualisations of perversion have deepened with time, as analytic thinkers moved from conceiving of it as a defence against oedipal castration anxiety to thinking of perverse relations as serving to protect a crumbling, possibly pre-psychotic self. Perversion is the compulsive erotisation of that void in order to trigger excitement which is unconsciously experienced as a false substitute. The perverse subject's accurate identification of the other's needs is not a true identification of the other's internal reality. It is, rather, a pseudo-identification which relies on his ability to adopt the other's discursive features in a way that prevents the other from identifying him or her as a stranger.
