Fetishism revisited

Following a brief review of the psychoanalytic literature on perversions, a case of fetishism is presented. The patient was a man who could only have an erection while wearing an apron. Nevertheless, it did not help him to reach an orgasm. He could only achieve this while having certain anxiety dreams that produced nocturnal pollutions. It is suggested that whatever the pregenital determinants of this perversion are, fetishism makes special reference to problems related to the phallic position (a concept suggested as an alternative to the notion of a developmental genetic phallic phase). References are made to the families of perverts and, specifically, to the function of the father.