displacement downwards from above

My interest is piqued.

I've written before on the displacement upwards from below, of the genital to the head, that occurs in perversion. I think I've also mentioned displacement downwards from above in relation to orality cathecting the genitals. The latter was Rank's coinage and though there is the figure of the vagina dentata that shows this process I want to talk about this process in relation from genital to foot!.

I've had too many patients now who have had disgust in relation to their feet and who definitely have strong anal fixations. Additionally, it is popularly known that boots, binding of the feet, etc. are popular forms of perversion.

Body psychotherapists point to the skinny, tight legs that accompany many pre-oedipal characters (oral, psychopath, etc.) and the 'armouring' here between the genitals and the feet may make their connection salient.

What is theoretically relevant here is the notion of both the anal and the phallic stage involving a representation of castration of the genitals.

It's already clear that the trito-anal or urethral stage involves an awareness of the lack of a penis and the active castration wishes of the woman (Kestenberg) and envy of the male's ability to urinate upright (Horney). However, I thought it was the phallic-Oedipal in which the phallic mother is castrated and power/phallus was transcribed fully to the father, that the lack of the penis or castration is important.

So, either castration happens twice and we must chalk it up to poor reality testing on the child (i.e. castration occurred earlier but the child thinks the penis magically grew back on the mother), or the phallus is understood to be a retroactive signification on the relationship of power itself and not to belong to any bodily dimension. This means that the child only sees that its mother is overpowered by the father in both the anal stage and then in the phallic stage and uses the symbol of castration for these events. This means that power (i.e. transference) is initially upon the mother and then passed to the father but then upon the mother again in the phallic stage.

The bodily comportment of gender in the anal stage (i.e. moving or walking like a girl or a boy)
would be related to castration along with the primitive versions of the ego ideal/drives involving a transference to an omnipotent or 'perfect' father.

 

Ego Ideal/Drive- Freud's Copernican Revolution

I'm continually surprised how difficult it is for people to understand the nature of ego drives (instincts) in Freud. I understand the confusion between the ego drives and ego ideals within Freud's writings but whatever you want to call them they remain the most important part in Freud's Copernican revolution of showing how the ego isn't master in its own house.

This revolution is in opposition to the simple Cartesian view of a person being a rational chooser who decides what he or she wants to do with his life and who must satisfy the bodily needs of hunger and sex and deal with the passions that interfere with his rational thought. People might add a little to this and talk about 'habit' (existentialism) or amplify hunger and sex and add desires that are informed by discourse or repetitions of childhood relationships, however this dualism basically holds.

What Freud does with the drive/ego ideal is point out that one is forced (driven!) to go after success, love, being loved, being the smartest, etc. and desires are part of our character and not things an adult chooses because he has decided that being regarded as a good athlete is a better way to live than to help  the disadvantaged. Moreover, he points to their negative quality or 'Faustian restlessness' in that once one finds success, say for example, a person finishes highschool near the top of his class, there will be a feeling of triumph as ego (self) coincides with ego ideal, but that this feeling will wear off and a new object will be found for the ideal. Now the person must be top of the class in college or be regarded as smart in a profession.

To not go after the ideal or feel like one wont' live up to it is dynamically related to feelings of shame, inferiority, guilt, self-pity, (etc.)- all of which is common language and any person who is wise can see in others.

To be found in Freud's writing is the additional claim that if one tries get rid of these feelings that follow from the non-fulfillment of the ego ideal one must repress it, which will involve a return of the repressed and a compensatory neurotic trait. Additionally, in his idea of defusion of eros, that covers both egoistic and competitive drives and altruistic drives of finding harmony with others, is the idea that to attack the object representation or imago of the parent upon which the ego ideal was formed will lead to the death drive emerging. In 'On Narcissism' Freud shows how that this will lead to the regression from looking for success and love to hypochondria or some other lower functioning (i.e. phallic to anal) that isolates one from competition or love with others. It could also lead to the furthest regression of catatonic schizophrenia in which one has next to no contact with others.

Thus the rational chooser and the 'reasons' why he chooses to work hard and find success are rationalizations for Freud. This person is not free to choose. He has ideals and to not fulfill them causes him to feel shame or inferiority before people and if he suppresses the ideals he will suffer neurotically for it.

The drive/ego ideal is Freud saying we are primarily social beings first and our drives and ideals show this need for recognition and love from others. Reason is applied to realizing these desires but it is secondary or practical.  

psychic bisexuality: subject egoist and altruist

The active-egoism vs. passive-altruism binary.

On one hand the egoist feels that power is inside himself and attempts to express this power through conquering (possessing, controlling) the external world (people and things).

On the other hand the altruist feels that power is outside herself and attempts to express this idealization through loving (merging, resonating with) the external world (people and things).

The egoist has various ego ideals of glory that are connected to different fixations of aggression as well as impulses that haven’t been inhibited in their aims.

The altruist has various ego ideals of harmony that are connected to different fixations of affection as well as impulses that haven’t been inhibited in their aim.

The egoist experiences defusions from his ego ideals as compulsions. For example, he must compulsively work and prove himself (proto-phallic) or compulsively think and fly off into tangents (proto-anal). He has lost contact with or defused from the other he sought recognition from and lost the ability to receive self-esteem from his achievements or understanding.

The altruist experiences defusions from her ego ideals as resignations. For example, she must resign having her own opinions and projects and support those of her object (proto-phallic) or resign her bodily pleasure into feeling dead and out of contact with others (proto-anal). She has lost contact with or defused from the self she sought love from and lost the ability to receive self-esteem from her devotion or mimetic sense.

The egoist individuates by diminishing the power of the self and forming identifications with new masters to take on knowledge or skill.

The altruist individuates by diminishing the power in the other and forming identifications with others to increase wisdom or art.

At the Oedipus complex the egoist wants to castrate the father and take away his woman or his work and with too much signal anxiety he’ll have this reversed upon himself (i.e. self-castration) and masochistically spoiling his own success (Reik). This can lead to his return to the first ocular instance of separating self from other in Oedipus blinding himself to overcome the external world.

At the Antigone complex the altruist feels castrated by the father and that he doesn’t approve of her sexuality or self-assertion and with too much signal anxiety she’ll reverse this to the desire to castrate the father with her masochistic complaining (Reich). This can lead to her return to the first ocular instance of separating other from self in Antigone killing herself to overcome aloneness.