Male gender identity and sexual behaviour

One consequence of a heightened interest in intersubjectivity in the current psychoanalytic literature has been a relative neglect of the examination of unconscious fantasies. Presenting material from the analysis of three males, each of whom, in childhood and/or adolescence, hid his penis between his legs and looked at himself in a mirror naked, the author demonstrates the importance of attending to both unconscious fantasies and their manifestations within the interactive field of analysis. The first patient is a young child with a gender identity disorder, whose wish to be like his mother was a response to the emotional loss of her during early childhood. The second patient is an adolescent, whose behaviour in front of a mirror was a manifestation of his desire to possess his mother and be her, to humiliate and sadistically control her, and at the same time, to experience the masochistic sexual gratification of being a seemingly helpless victim. The third patient, a 48-year-old male, came to analysis filled with suicidal impulses and self-hatred related to homosexual impulses. His repeated examination of himself in a mirror, with penis hidden, reflected severe castration anxiety, related to an ambivalent relationship with an angry mother and a longing for attention from an unavailable father. The article closes with a description of the similarities and differences in the dynamics of these three males as well as a discussion of the meaning of similar behaviour in other males seen in consultation.