Female possessive love grows pathologically where sexual satisfaction is absent
Evidence
A woman remained frigid for the first years of her marriage, due to childhood fixations. She then developed a hypertrophic love as is frequently found in women who cannot bear to see that their husbands are indifferent to them. She lived only for her husband, and thought only of him. She lost all will. He had to plan her day every morning, tell her what to buy, etc. She carried out everything conscientiously. If he did not tell her what to do, she stayed in her room doing nothing and worried about him. She could not let him go anywhere without accompanying him. She could not stay alone, and she liked to hold his hand … She was unhappy and cried for hours, trembling for her husband and if there were no reasons to tremble, she created them. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1289
Categorization
- QUESTION: Stekel’s case data predates modern diagnostic criteria; worth checking how these observations map onto contemporary attachment theory.
- XREF: connects to: Male desire is fleeting while women become emotionally bound after love; Women can become serial lovers when initial liaisons fail to gratify; Male authority in love is satiable while female devotion is insatiable (+1 more)