From the analysis of a perversion

The coexistence of physical malformation and homosexuality and their mutual effects on each other are examined in the context of an account of the early months of an analysis. The material is structured around the hypothesis that this perversion is based on the existence of a perverse pact between the mother and the son, characterized specifically by a particular exchange of disavowals: the typical attribution by the child of phallic completeness to the mother is returned by her in her transformation by disavowal of the son's physical deformity into an image of beautiful fullness and physical normality. The material is set out and developed with a view to corroborating this hypothesis in detail; this account is followed by a brief review of the concepts of narcissism, disavowal and splitting of the ego, which constitute the Freudian theoretical basis for an understanding of the case. Narcissism is observed here from the point of view of the fusion of mother and son and the vicissitudes and difficulties of separation. Disavowal is examined from three aspects: repudiation of the absence of a penis in the mother, of the father's function and of the physical malformation.