You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
I would like to begin with a clinical vignette that, in a somewhat unsettling manner, first alerted me to the therapeutic value of the analyst's sexualized countertransference. I had been working for several months with a ten-year-old boy, M, whose presenting symptom, as described by the mother, was a slackening in school work shortly after her divorce from M's father. The mother had custody of all three children: an older brother, M, and a younger sister. M shrugged off any sadness or anger about the divorce, and seemed to enter into the therapeutic relationship easily and openly. He drew pictures, usually of pirates and superman-like figures, and he had a rather typical enthusiasm for playing “war” with plastic soldiers. He also was an ardent Yankee baseball fan; in fact, with the possible exception of the TV announcers, I cannot imagine anyone knowing more of the statistics —e called them “stats”—on the individual Yankee players.
I highlight M's boyish interests because, in spite of them, I gradually found myself reacting to him in ways I might have reacted to an alluring girl: as cute, charmingly endearing, and above all seductively cuddlesome. At times, I wanted to toss my arms about him, squeeze him tight, give him a kiss. I felt him to be a lovely young girl. In attempting to sort out for myself from whence this reaction came, I began to pay closer attention to the subtleties of M's interaction with me. I then began to notice how his movements at times had a kind of furtive quality to them. He occasionally would walk by almost brushing up against me, cat-like. Also, some of his gestures, while not effeminate, took on a seductive cast; for example, a lingering look and slow running of his hand through his hair, as he hesitated near the door at the end of the session.