On: Dr Weisberg's Reactions to ‘Unraveling the Riddle of Exhibitionism’

Dear Editors,

I have read with interest Dr. Weisberg's letter written in response to the paper I had published in the IJP on exhibitionism (Tuch, 2008). Weisberg presents a clinical vignette illustrating his thesis that genital exhibitionism can represent an identification with the breast (penis=breast) with the act of exhibitionism serving to stimulate envy of the breast/penis in others. In this particular case, Weisberg suggests exhibitionism was driven by the patient's wish to disown and project not only his envy of the breast but also the anxiety aroused by the patient's awareness he does not possess the breast and is therefore at its mercy. Weisberg cites a dream his patient presented in which the patient falls instantly in love with a woman at the first sight of her breasts. He kisses her passionately, thus introjecting the exciting object, then proceeds to expose himself through a picture window just as he had done as an adolescent. Weisberg concludes that the patient's intolerance of the frustration inherent in wanting the breast leads to his becoming the breast, a situation that seeks confirmation through the act of exhibitionism