Homosexuality: coming out of the confusion.

Abstract

The author asserts that earlier theoretical assumptions contribute to the conceptual confusion about homosexuality in much contemporary psychoanalytic research. Bergeret's article, recently published in this Journal, is exemplary of this confusion. The author refutes his contention that homosexuality is not 'true' sexuality but merely a defensive, narcissistic fixation away from, or a nearly psychotic denial of, heterosexuality. He then clarifies specific areas of conceptual confusion regarding homosexuality still prevalent in psychoanalytic discourse that derive from earlier theoretical premises. These areas of confusion include manifest versus latent homosexuality, narcissism and bisexuality, oedipal dynamics and development, and transference and technique.