A Woman is Being Beaten: an Analytic Fragment

Along with the familiar phantasies of “A child is being beaten” (Freud and, “A woman is being carried” (Stekel), one frequently encounters among neurotics the phantasy “A woman is being beaten.” These and related phantasies are all variations of the same theme and form a part of a larger picture that one observes in sadomasochistic neuroses. The phantasy is not only the one that is conscious to the patient, but the one that usually brings the patient to the office, the patient stating that he is addicted to masturbation, which practice is clearly associated with this phantasy; and nothing else can be recalled. Thus the phantasy as it appears in the conscious expression of the patient, is but one link in the long chain of other phantasies, all of which are quite unconscious. A study of such cases soon brings to the foreground some member of the family, the father or mother as the case may be, and behind it the significant fact that the patient is the person in the phantasy—child or woman—and that the father or mother is the one who carries on the active role. Or the person in the phantasy may be a hated rival, another child as an expression of receiving the love of the parent. If the patient is asked what has the child done, he is quite unable to answer; nor whether the punishment is just or unjust. As frequently observed by Freud,1 the child producing the phantasy is never doing the beating himself. Instead of one child there may be many (overdetermination). A final study of the phantasy shows that it is not merely associated with autoerotic practices, but actually precedes them; hence the heightened onanistic gratification. According to Stekel2 the scene of forgiveness and reconciliation is of utmost importance. The child has to beg forgiveness and thank the person for punishment. A scene of revenge follows that of punishment, and this is mostly deeply repressed. Stekel further states that there is usually a very severe