Sexual Deviation

by Anthony Storr

Sexual Deviation

Genres: Psychology

Paperback

First published February 26, 1970

About the author

Anthony Storr was an English psychiatrist and author. He was a child who was to endure the typical trauma of early 20th century UK boarding schools. He was educated at Winchester, Christ's College, the University of Cambridge and Westminster Hospital. He qualified as a doctor in 1944, and subsequently specialized in psychiatry.

Storr grew up to be kind and insightful, yet, as his obituary states, he was "no stranger to suffering" and was himself allegedly prone to the frequent bouts of depression his mother had.

Today, Anthony Storr is known for his psychoanalytical portraits of historical figures.

Reviews

[Dylan Sparrow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Veritably no data is provided to back up Storr's claims, which are mired in social conservatism and homophobia; it is written in a highly abridged, overly general manner suggesting that we are supposed to take everything he says at face value and trust that it is true, which, to say the least, shows exactly how dated this book is. On the plus side, some of his observations, which do seem to be based on some kind of experience he's accumulated in his profession, do occasionally illuminate some interesting concepts that your average social scientist would shy away from today - for example, the idea that homosexuality might be a learned rather than inborn trait - suggesting, as he explicitly states, that virtually all people are born with a capacity to go either way if certain stimuli are reinforced. However, where he could use this insight to come to much more progressive and helpful conclusions, he equates all stimuli leading to homosexuality, fetishism, etc. to negative factors in a child's development. The direct connection he frequently makes here is that any kind of sexual "deviancy", be it a preoccupation with feet, exhibitionism, sado-masochism or mere homosexuality, should be treated as if it were a mental disorder. Though he advocates compassion for the people who hold these interests over hatred, he casts them as pitiful, conflating their plight with the much more severe and inarguably pathological fascinations held by pedophiliacs and the like.

[Tobi ﾄﾋﾞ · Rating 2 out of 5]

probably going to stop reading books like this that are just written and researched by men lol

[Marianna Sharktooth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ενώ ξεκινήσα πολύ καλά, από 4 αστέρια που σκεφτόμουν, κατέληξα να βάλω στο βιβλίο αυτό 2. Κάποια πραγματάκια δε μου άρεσαν, και θα τα παραθεσω επιγραμματικά.
-Η αναφορά στην ανδρική ομοφυλοφιλία γίνεται με αυστηρότητα. Και βέβαια, ο συγγραφέας υποστηρίζει οτι οφείλεται σε καθαρά σε ψυχολογικούς παράγοντες, που σήμερα έχει αποδειχθεί οτι ομοφυλόφιλος και γεννιέται κάποιος. 40 χρόνια πριν βέβαια, που γράφτηκε το βιβλίο, τόσα ξέραμε, τόσα λέγαμε. Ακόμη και οι γιατροί.
-Για την παιδοφιλία, χωρίζει τους ομοφυλοφιλους και τους "στρέιτ" παιδόφιλους. Ο τρόπος που το αναλύει με θύμωσε. Μάλλον είμαι προκατειλλημένη και λόγω θέματος, αλλά το ότι οι γονείς που λένε στα παιδιά να μην μιλάνε σε αγνώστους, μπορεί να προκαλέσουν μεγαλύτερο τραύμα στο παιδί... Δεν ξέρω. Τραβηγμένο.
-Και, τέλος, το κερασάκι στη τούρτα ήταν -μιλώντας για τους επιδειξίες- η αναφορά στις γυναίκες που επιλέγουν συνειδητά να περπατήσουν σε μέρη που θα υποστούν παρενόχληση. Ίσως παραείμαι ευαίσθητη με το συγκεκριμένο θέμα, αλλά δεν το δέχομαι.

[Alexr · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grotesquely out of date - needs a trigger warning (as does this review). It would be comical if this very popular book by a very influential media figure had not been so damaging, especially in its excusing of sexual molestation of children, where he says "actual intercourse is extremely rare" and children are rarely damaged by adult assaults.
From chapter 10 "Paedophilia":
But some apparently normal men, under stress of sexual deprivation, or when judgement and self-control have been impaired by brain damage or by alcohol, are capable of making sexual advances to children. Guy de Maupassant’s story The Roque Child is an entirely convincing, imaginative reconstruction of how this could happen to a man who is normally upright and controlled. In the story the Mayor of a village who has been recently widowed is tormented by unfulfilled desire. When he accidentally comes across a pubescent girl of twelve bathing naked in the woods, his emotions overcome his scruples and he assaults her. She weeps and screams; and to stop her cries he puts his hands around her throat, killing her unintentionally. The story ends with the Mayor’s suicide from remorse; and it is a tribute to Maupassant’s skill and imaginative sympathy that we are able to feel compassion for the man who could perform an act which in itself is dreadful, but which might be committed by many of us if the provocation was sufficient.'

[Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Nothing is so alarming to human beings as the inexplicable."