Fetishism1

Fetishism, as Freud (6) has shown, is a special solution of the castration threat. This solution is carried out by the mechanism of the denial of a part of reality consisting of the refusal to acknowledge the lack of a penis in women. Thus, the fetish is a substitute for the female penis (i.e., of the mother). It may be a symbol of the penis or it may represent the object of "last moment in which the woman could still be regarded as phallic." The choice of the fetish often is influenced by the return of repressed coprophilic smell desires (3). The main significance of the fetish is due to its protective values as a "safe-guard against the danger of castration." The reality of this danger is recognized at the site of the female genital but it is repudiated simultaneously and the two conflicting perceptions in the denial constitute a split in the ego (7). Freud emphasized throughout that the core of the problem lies in the horror of the female genital and he also posed the question why the trauma of the sight of penislessness is overcome in the majority of cases but in some it leads to fetishism or homosexuality.

In what follows we shall make an attempt to contribute to this problem. Freud had indicated that the decisive screen memories of fetishists usually date not earlier than from the ages of five or six. Therefore, earlier experiences must determine the choice of the fetish. In other words, whereas the fetishistic defense of castration anxiety emerges in the phallic phase, it is predetermined by prephallic experiences. The constitutional predisposition, according