Description

“The function of sexual fantasy is to undo the beliefs and feelings interfering with sexual excitement, to ensure both our safety and our pleasure,” writes clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst Michael Bader. In Arousal, Bader discusses the role of sexual fantasy as an unconscious problem solver and describes how his patients have come to understand the background, logic, and positive messages of their fantasies. Bader offers case studies of patients (heterosexual and gay) with varied conflicts, and analyzes their sexual fantasies in light of their desires, guilt, and past and current relationships. Most patients, Bader found, are able to resolve their issues by understanding the meaning and logic of their fantasies and then move on to more satisfying relationships.Bader also interprets common sex fantasies and discusses sexual boredom in ongoing relationships, the power of pathogenic (irrational and self-defeating) beliefs, and sexual fantasies as a therapeutic key to problems that seem independent of sexuality, such as depression.This provocative book is scholarly yet accessible to the lay reader interested in psychology. Although readers might be drawn in by the gritty, sexy details about Bader’s patients, thoughtful readers also will learn about themselves and what their own fantasies may be addressing and revealing. –Joan PriceAmazon link, with preview….While the book is valuable for its general overview and theory, the review above does not address two points that are particularly apt in view of things like sexual dominance: the roles of selfishness and “sexual ruthlessness” in achieving any satisfactory intimate connection.Recommended for those who are looking for a broader examination of sexual attraction, practices and fantasies than those they’ve previously read, or who are looking to explore the psychological (as opposed to evolutionary) aspects of human sexuality.This is a conversion of my original pdf scan; I can upload that if desired, but it’s substantially larger.