A PROBLEM IN SEX PATHOLOGY
VERNON W. GRANT PH. D.1
1 Chief psychologist, Hawthornden State Hospital, Macedonia, Ohio.
1.Attention is called to the phenomenon of sexual fetishisms as one in which the problem of deviated sexual aim is defined, in its stimulus aspect, with exceptional sharpness.
2. A case history is presented illustrating (a) onset in childhood; (b) highly specialized character of the fetish; (c) extraordinary strength of the impulse; (d) evidence of an "amorous" component in the response to the fetish.
3. In the setting of this case and a number of others, some contemporary theory is examined with regard to its adequacy for certain features of the data on fetishisms, with special reference to the principle of conditioning. The psychoanalytic interpretation is briefly discussed, also Binet's observation on near-normal varieties of fetishism.
