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What do we know about Sigmund Freud's theories?
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Lesbianism

Freud believed lesbianism was a product of mental illness.
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The Argument

His daughter Anna was his closest intellectual and emotional companion - and a lesbian. Freud’s own theory states that lesbianism is always the fault of the father and is curable by psychoanalysis. His own beliefs that analysis is an erotic relationship and the reasons for lesbianism should have precluded him from analysing Anna. It didn’t. For six nights a week over several years, he and Anna analyzed and dissected her masturbation fantasies, and he spoke publicly about her fantasies at a conference while Anna sat beside him on stage. In her personal life, Anna enjoyed 54 years of happy monogamy with Dorothy Burlingham, heir to the Tiffany fortune.

Counter arguments

Premises

[P1] Freud believed lesbianism was a mental illness.

Rejecting the premises

References

This page was last edited on Monday, 23 Mar 2020 at 12:59 UTC

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