Freud raised the question of why most persons master the trauma of seeing that women are without penes but in a few this discovery leads to fetishism or homosexuality. Bak describes two patients and emphasizes the following facts about the development of fetishism. 1. Weakness of the ego structure, inherent or secondary to physiological dysfunction or to disturbances in the relationship of mother and child, endangers survival. There is excessive separation anxiety and clinging to the mother or to a substitute part of her; this clinging may contribute to erotization of the hands and a predilection for touching. 2. Fixation occurs in pregenital phases. Anal eroticism and interest in smell are employed to maintain the unity of mother and child. 3. The symbolic significance of the fetish corresponds to pregenital phases and thus