Claire Adrian - Incest, A Way Of Life

It is evident in Paula's case that we are dealing with the results of more than one abnormality, namely a severe Electra complex, since it is complicated by her sadomasochism, although this latter aberrancy had no direct motivational bearing on her decision to seduce her stepfather into sexual intercourse; nevertheless, we must consider this element of sadomasochism, since it is an integral part of Paula's libido, of the fertile soil so vital to the growing of warped and twisted sexuality.

It is necessary to say that sexual abnormality never develops suddenly; it develops slowly, over a period of years, from a background of complex factors which, working in unison with each other, combine to produce the aberration. And it did not develop overnight in Paula T-.

At this point we will do well to refresh our memory with an explanation of the Oedipus complex, the counterpart of which, in girls, is called the Electra complex. Reduced to its simplest explanation, the Electra complex is the incestuous desire of the daughter for sexual relations with the father. Extended to greater analysis, the Electra wish means that, with the transference of the child-penis wish on to her father, the girl enters into the situation of the Electra complex. "This means that she associates her lack of a penis with her father's having one; this, in turn, creates hostility against her mother, who, receiving everything from the father that the girl wants, including his penis, now becomes a rival.

The girl's Electra complex long conceals the pre-Oedipus attachment to her mother, which is so important and which leaves behind it such lasting fixations. For the girl, the Electra complex is the conclusion of a long and difficult period of development; it is a kind of temporary solution of her problems, and a state of equilibrium which is not lightly to be given up, especially as the onset of the latency period is not far off.

It is here that we notice a difference between the two sexes in the relation between the Oedipus complex and the castration complex, a difference which is probably a momentous one. The boy's Oedipus complex, in which he desires his mother, and wants to get rid of his father as a rival, develops naturally out of the phase of phallic sexuality. The threat of castration, however, forces him to give up this attitude. Under the influence of the danger of losing his penis, he abandons his Oedipus complex; it becomes repressed and, in the most normal cases, entirely destroyed, while a severe superego (or conscience) is set up as its heir. ‘What happens in the case of a girl is almost the opposite. The castration complex prepares the way for the Oedipus situation (the Electra wish) instead of destroying it, and what happens is this: Under the influence of her penis-envy the girl is driven from her attachment to her mother, and enters the Electra situation as though it were a haven of refuge. When the fear of castration disappears, the primary motive is removed, which has forced the boy to overcome his Oedipus complex, but the girl remains in the Oedipus (Electra) situation for an indefinite period, only abandoning it late in life, and then completely. The formation of the superego must suffer in these circumstances, which, in part, explains why some women can be so utterly and completely ruthless.

How does all this apply to Paula, the subject of our case study? It is obvious that most teenage girls want things their parents cannot afford, or, for whatever reason, do not want them to have; yet, the average girl does not turn to sexual promiscuity in order to acquire these things. She doesn't for one very good reason: the factors necessary for promiscuity are not present in her psychosexual makeup. These factors were present in Paula T.; one factor was more than strong enough to subjugate the superego: an intense Electra complex which quickly manifested itself in Paula's desire for material gain.

Without knowing it, without realizing it, Paula was not fellating or being cunnilingued by dates; she was having oral relations with her stepfather, the man who represented to her, emotionally and subconsciously, a real biologic father. Her own words give evidence to this fact: "He loved me and I loved him." Almost as if -at least to Paula-they were lovers! Her words also indicate the strength of the complex, which, after growing in strength, finally could insinuate itself into her ego (and/or consciousness).

Thus we see that Paula's promiscuity, her high-school whoredom, and later her activities at the W- W-, were merely a prelude to the full-blown realization of her Electra complex, expressing itself at its peak in her conscious determination to seduce her stepfather.

How does Paula's sadomasochism fit into this complex framework of abnormality? Was she actually, subconsciously, punishing her stepfather when she beat and whipped and tortured her clients?

For an explanation, we first must regress a little to the works of Freud. Discussing sexuality in general, Freud says, in Beyond the Pleasure Principle: "From the very start we recognized the presence of a sadistic component in the sexual instinct… later, the sadistic instinct separates off, and finally, at the stage of genital primacy, it takes on, for the purposes of reproduction, the function of overpowering the sexual object to the extent necessary for carrying out the sexual act."

Here we see how Freud identifies sadism with destructive and death instincts. He also points out that in the sexual act these instincts are subordinated to Eors in order to secure control of the subject of the search-the love object. Writes Freud: "It may be assumed that the impulse of cruelty arises from the instinct for mastery and appears at a period of seual life at which the genitals have not taken over their later role.'

In The Ego and the Id, Freud repeats this idea, but this time insists on the importance of Instinctual disfusion: Says he: "The sadistic component of the sexual instinct would be a classical example of a serviceable instinctual fusion. Making a swift generalization, we might conjecture that the essence of a libido lies in the disfusion of instincts."

We mention this background to the formation of generalized sadomasochism in women as a foundation to the explanation of Paula's origin of sadism and her enjoyment of cruelty.

No, Paula was not "torturing" her stepfather when she "serviced" a masochistic client. Her sadism was merely a by-product of her Electra complex, an intensification of Electra to express itself, to free itself from bondage, from the imprisonment of the id. In beating her clients, Paula was partially achieving her goal-on a subconscious level, of course-which was to have intercourse with her father.

A note of caution to the reader. It must not be thought that all unresolved complexes, Electra and otherwise, express themselves in sadomasochism. The production of sadomasochism depends on many factors and the strength of their intensification, of which Oedipus/Electra is only one, as well as other motivations which, at present, are not fully understood (and too complicated to discuss in this short work); nor does an unresolved Electra complex invariably result in conscious desire for incestuous sexual contact. It seldom does, the superego usually succeeding in completely repressing such desires.

Psychosomatic (or pure psychogenic) illness is by far the most common mode of unresolved Electra expression-various phobias and compulsions, and/or conversion symptoms (such as the famous backache or "sick headache," as well as hundreds-literally-of other body symptoms). However, symptoms may also arise from guilt over the Electra situation. Here we find that when the superego is as powerful as the unresolved Electra desire (or perhaps even more powerful), guilt can be the result, with the desire of the conscience (now in deadly and unrelenting conflict with Electra) being to expiate what it feels to be the monstrous sin of incest; for to superego, the desire is as bad as the commission of the act itself.