The Language of Perversion and the Language of Love does not contain the broad content suggested by the title. This book is not about sexual perversion per se, but rather about the tendency for certain people to use others rather than relate to them. The term “perversion” as it is used by Bach reflects back on Freud's original definition, which states that a relationship is perverse if it is objectified. Bach says,

It is the treatment of another person as a thing rather than a human being that I see as a perversion of object relationships and that forms the background of this book. (p. xv)

As such, the book devotes itself to how narcissistic characters tend to relate to the world around them in this perverse way, being