Male gender identity and sexual behaviour

One consequence of a heightened interest in intersubjectivity in the curren t psychoanalytic literature has been a relative neglect of the examination of unconscious fantasies. Presenting material from the analysis of three ma les each of whom, in childhood and/or adolescence, hid his penis between hi s legs and looked at himself in a mirror naked, the author demonstrates the importance of attending to both unconscious fantasies and their manifestat ions within the interactive field of analysis. The first patient is a young child with a gender identity disorder, whose wish to be like his mother wa s a response to the emotional loss of her during early childhood. The secon d patient is an adolescent, whose behaviour in front of a mirror was a mani festation of his desire to possess his mother and be her, to humiliate and sadistically control her, and at the same time, to experience the masochist ic sexual gratification of being a seemingly helpless victim. The third pat ient, a 48-year-old male, came to analysis filled with suicidal impulses an d self-hatred related to homosexual impulses. His repeated examination of h imself in a mirror, with penis hidden reflected severe castration anxiety, related to an ambivalent relationship with an angry mother and a longing fo r attention from an unavailable father. The article closes with a descripti on of the similarities and differences in the dynamics of these three males as well as a discussion of the meaning of similar behaviour in other males seen in consultation.