The object in fetishism, homeovestism and transvestism
Zavitzianos, G.
International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 58(4): 487-495
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0020-7578 PMID: 598975 Document Number: 119838
The cases of fetishism encountered in the analytic literature do not always meet the criteria of metapsychology. The libidinal phase to which the object described as fetish belongs, the function of the fetish and its symbolic significance do not always correspond to those described by Freud. Anna Freud (1965) states that the child has, in common with the adult fetishist, the tendency to hypercathect some object or some part of his own or another person's body with either narcissistic or object libido. An important point made by the same author is that the ultimate fate of a fetishistic behavior of childhood cannot be foreseen before the child reaches adolescence. Even then there are a certain number of factors that will determine the outcome. This article does not deal with the developmental aspects of the fetishistic object but shows that there exists a category of adult cases described in the literature as fetishism which do not meet the criteria of this condition. The appropriate diagnosis for such cases would be homeovestism. Homeovestism seems to have more points in common with transvestism than with fetishism.