Because of its ceremonial and legal character, the marriage bond is readily represented in special instances by fantasies of anatomical attachment. These primitive fantasies serve as defences against fear of separation and annihilation. It is not, however, necessarily claimed that such fantasies constitute the historical source of the social institution of marriage.

One common fantasy is 'my wife is my phallus', which the author demonstrates clinically in a group of men who maintained sado-masochistic marriages with surprising tenacity, and among whom the fantasy represented a modification of their original narcissism and a partial approach to object relations. Their fantasy is highly over-determined, drawing elements from all libidinal phases. The predominantly oral factors are presented, but a more complete report would include many anal, urethral, and phallic determinants. None the less the oedipal phase is of crucial importance. Thorough understanding of such fantasies is a prerequisite for the analytic solution of neurotic problems in married people.