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Exhibitionism is the [[psychological ]] [[need ]] and pattern of [[behavior ]] to exhibit naked parts of the [[body ]] to [[other ]] [[people ]] — that is, parts of the body that would otherwise be covered by clothes according to the standards of the local [[cultural ]] norms. Usually, this involves the [[female ]] breasts or the genitalia or buttocks of either [[gender]]. Exhibitionism does not necessarily imply alterations of the [[psychiatric ]] condition of the average, everyday [[individual]], although sometimes this occurs, and can be threatening to those exposed, as in indecent exposure.

"Exhibitionism" commonly denotes a [[sexual ]] perversion in which [[satisfaction ]] is linked to the displaying of one's [[genital ]] parts. [[Psychoanalysis ]] broadens this [[notion ]] by acknowledging many early manifestations of this tendency in the sexual [[life ]] of the [[child]]. [[Freud ]] showed how [[infantile ]] [[sexuality]], prior to the establishment of the genital functions, was governed by the interplay of various component [[instincts ]] which [[manifest ]] themselves most often as pairs of opposites and each of which is linked to a [[particular ]] [[erotogenic ]] zone. In this context exhibitionism is one of the elements of [[instinctual ]] life, making its [[appearance ]] in conjunction with its opposite, namely [[pleasure ]] in [[looking]], both [[being ]] related to the eye as the relevant erotogenic zone. Seen in this light, exhibitionism as a perversion in the [[adult ]] bespeaks [[regression ]] to an earlier [[fixation ]] of the [[libido]].

It was chiefly in his [[Three ]] Essays on the [[Theory ]] of Sexuality, including the [[notes ]] added to this [[work ]] over its successive editions, that Freud outlined his conception of exhibitionism: "exhibitionists, . . . if I may trust the findings of several [[analyses]], exhibit their own genitals in [[order ]] to obtain a reciprocal view of the genitals of the other person." A note added in 1920 elaborates: "Under [[analysis]], these perversions . . . reveal a surprising variety of motives and determinants. The [[compulsion ]] to exhibit, for [[instance]], is also closely dependent on the [[castration ]] [[complex]]; it is a means of constantly insisting upon the integrity of the [[subject]]'s own ([[male]]) genitals and it reiterates his infantile satisfaction at the [[absence ]] of a [[penis ]] in those of [[women]]" (p. 157 and n.). The [[anxiety ]] aroused by the [[perception ]] of this [[real ]] [[lack ]] of the penis in women—in the [[mother]], for example—led Freud to describe how, by the [[mechanism ]] of [[disavowal]], such a perception could be so thoroughly denied that an [[object]], a [[fetish]], could come to stand for the [[absent ]] penis and "become the chosen object determining the [[achievement ]] of sexual pleasure" (Green, 1990). For Guy Rosolato (1967), "[[fetishism ]] is at the heart of all perversion in that it disavows the [[difference ]] between the [[sexes]]"; it must therefore, and a fortiori, be central to exhibitionism.

Let us note, lastly, that exhibitionism as a manifestation of [[childhood ]] sexuality is a common phenomenon and a part of sexual play. The [[desire ]] to show off the genitals is linked to the [[needs ]] for reassurance and [[knowledge]]. Child psychologists underline the importance of such play, though they insist that it should be confined to [[children ]] of the same age, generally within a group where the curiosity is shared.

* [[Scoptophilia/scopophilia]]

# [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1905d). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. SE, 7: 123-243.