J. M. Masson's The assault on truth and the origins of psychoanalysis.
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| Title: | J. M. Masson's The assault on truth and the origins of psychoanalysis. |
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| Authors: | Bonomi, Carlo (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | International Forum of Psychoanalysis. Jun2026, Vol. 35 Issue 2, p111-125. 15p. |
| Subjects: | History of psychoanalysis, Seduction, Psychoanalysis, Patients, Psychoanalysts, Genital mutilation, Child sexual abuse, Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939, Masturbation |
| Abstract: | The assault on truth by Jeffrey Masson marked out an epoch in the history of the discipline. Yet, its arguments were not given the attention they deserved. In this two-part article I will try to fill this gap. In the first part I will summarize what has changed in these four decades in both society and psychoanalysis. The criticism of the new category of "child sexual abuse" serves as a bridge to the second part, in which I enter into the substance of the issues raised by Masson. I argue that Freud's seduction theory emerges from the need to dismantle the dominant etiological concept of "sexual excesses" by differentiating between masturbation and seduction. Without such a theory psychoanalysis would never have come to light. At a time when childhood masturbation was a sign of "precocious depravity" and was often cured by excision, seduction theory enabled Freud to establish a therapeutic alliance with his main patient, Emma Eckstein, at the cost, however, of disassociating the fact that she had been "circumcised" (excised) as a child. Finally, I suggest that recognition of Emma Eckstein's genital mutilation would have promoted a revision of the theory in the same direction that was later be developed by Ferenczi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
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| Abstract: | The assault on truth by Jeffrey Masson marked out an epoch in the history of the discipline. Yet, its arguments were not given the attention they deserved. In this two-part article I will try to fill this gap. In the first part I will summarize what has changed in these four decades in both society and psychoanalysis. The criticism of the new category of "child sexual abuse" serves as a bridge to the second part, in which I enter into the substance of the issues raised by Masson. I argue that Freud's seduction theory emerges from the need to dismantle the dominant etiological concept of "sexual excesses" by differentiating between masturbation and seduction. Without such a theory psychoanalysis would never have come to light. At a time when childhood masturbation was a sign of "precocious depravity" and was often cured by excision, seduction theory enabled Freud to establish a therapeutic alliance with his main patient, Emma Eckstein, at the cost, however, of disassociating the fact that she had been "circumcised" (excised) as a child. Finally, I suggest that recognition of Emma Eckstein's genital mutilation would have promoted a revision of the theory in the same direction that was later be developed by Ferenczi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 0803706X |
| DOI: | 10.1080/0803706X.2024.2414971 |
