By
Julius Olusola Bioku, PhD Candidate,
Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso
+2347064654440, julidors2006@mail.com
Abstract
This paper deals with exhibitionism as a type of sexual perversion which affects human sanctity. Through a descriptive method the author has conceptualized exhibitionism, provided the psychopathological description of exhibitionism and its psychoanalysis. In this paper the author has adopted the classification of exhibitionism by Aggrawal which deals with it as fantasizing exhibitionists, pure exhibitionists and exhibitionistic criminals. The author also deals with the therapeutic process for curbing exhibitionism which is usually accomplished through psychotherapy with a clinician, specializing in sexual disorders, anti-depressants, group therapy, sex therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The effects of exhibitionism are shame and emotional distress, internal conflict, and fear of judgment leading to isolation and difficulty finding or honestly communicating in sexual relationships. As such, it has been noted that exhibitionism can be treated through medication and hormones which include but are not limited to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and female hormones.
Key Words: Exhibitionism, Sexual Perversion
Word Count: 149
Exhibitionism is a form of sexual perversion affecting human sanctity. It is a form of human behaviour that deviates from what is considered to be normal, as it deviates from the normal. Generally, sexual perversion is any sexual behaviour considered to be an abnormal means of achieving sexual arousal or gratification (paraphilia). Paraphilia is referred to as the recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, urges, or behaviors commonly involving non-human objects, the humiliation of one’s partner, children, or other non-consenting individuals, which occur over a period of six months. According to DSM-IV-TR, there are eight forms of paraphilic disorders or sexual perversions experienced by human beings. Among these are frotteurism, fetishism, pedophilia, sexual-sadism, sexual-masochism, voyeurism, transvestic fetishism, and exhibitionism.
This means all humans can be innately perverse, as it can be visible from childhood into adulthood. In this regard, this paper examines exhibitionism as a sexual perversion. To achieve the purpose, the concept of exhibitionism, classification, symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and therapeutic process for curing exhibitionism will be discussed.
The term exhibitionism was introduced in 1877 and derived from the Latin word exhibere, meaning ‘to display.’ It is also known as an exhibitionistic disorder, lady godiva syndrome, apodysophilia, courtship disorders, and paraphilic disorder (Janssen 2020, 41-46). It is the psychological pattern of behaviour that exhibits naked parts of the body to others. It is referred to as ‘clinical exhibitionism’ or ‘genital exhibitionism.’ It is a highly compulsive in character, having specific and high recidivism (Weiss, 2002). It is characterized by attaining sexual gratification and excitement by exposing one’s genitals regularly to non-consenting persons. Socially, it is a perverse means of achieving sexual gratification, and such persons are regularly labeled as “flashers” and, in legal words, as “indecent exposers.” Psychotherapeutically, they are referred to as ‘exhibitionists,’ and it is conceptualised as a sexual perversion (Baunach 2010, 220).
Exhibitionism involves intense, continuous, and abnormal sexual arousal patterns that come with clinically significant distress. Exhibitionism is characterized by sexual excitement through genital exposure, typically to a stranger (DSM-IV-TR 2013, 689). Sometimes the exposer may be genitally aroused or masturbate when displaying exhibitionistic behaviour. In exhibitionism, the individual tends to an extravagant, usually sexually inspired behaviour to capture the attention of others by a display of a body part or parts that otherwise would be covered under clothing in cultural circumstances (George 2019, np).
Ranger and Fedoroff (2015) described exhibitionism as an offense against morality. Ranger and Fedoroff believed that exhibitionism results from transitory insanity, idiocy, partial or clouded consciousness, or a state of progressive mental weakness. They also noted that there is an association between exhibitionism and other clinical conditions like alcoholism, senile dementia, and paretic dementia (325). Psychologists and sexologists have referred to clinical exhibitionism by different names like exhibitionism, flashing, indecent exposure, exposure of a person, obscene exposure, public indecency, and male genital exposure throughout the centuries (Blair and Lanyon 1981, 439).
Other terms used by mental health professionals to describe the phenomenon include lascivious or lewdness behaviour. Exhibitionistic acts appear to be one of the most common potentially law-breaking sexual behaviours (Långström 2010. 317-320). However, the formal diagnostic word used by clinical psychiatrists is ‘indecent exposure,’ which includes voyeurism and exhibitionism, as well as obscene telephone calls, rape, and toucherism, all diversities of anomalous forms of sexual relationship that violate the traditional codes of standard pairing (Rooth 1970, 135-139). Exhibitionism can refer to dimensions of narcissistic behaviours or personalities or a type of sexual misconduct that may create a disorder.
Regarding sexual disorder, exhibitionism means sexual arousal from exposing one’s genitals or private parts to non-consenting victims. DSM-IV (2013) focused on two core defining principles. First, it includes, over a period of at least six months, recurrent sexual behaviors or urges and intense sexually arousing fantasies involving the exposure of one’s genitals to an unsuspecting stranger. Second, the fantasies, sexual behaviours, or urges must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in occupational, social, or other vital areas of functioning. The current diagnostic criteria for exhibitionism outlined in the DSM-IV (2013) require that the behaviour must persist for a period of at least six months in order to receive a psychiatric diagnosis (691).
Exhibitionism includes the following:
(a) Anasyrma: it is carrying up one’s skirt without putting on undergarments;
(b) Candaulism: sexual fantasy or practice where a man exposes the pictures of his female partner to others for their sexual pleasure;
(c) Flashing: the fleeting display of breasts by a woman with an up-and-down lifting of the shirt or bra; or exposure of male or female genitalia;
(d) Martymachlia: sexual attraction to have others viewing the sexual performance (sometimes, it is considered to be a paraphilia on its own);
(e) Mooning: the display of buttocks by drawing down clothes, which is mainly done as an act of mockery or joke, protest with no sexual excitement attached;
(f) Reflectoporn: the act of taking a stripped picture of oneself using a reflective surface object such as a mirror, then posting it in a public forum; and
(g) Streaking: the act of running naked in a public place (Kaylor and Jeglic 2021, 171).
Psychopathological Description of Exhibitionism
Clinically exhibitionism involves lowering or unbuttoning trousers and pants in a public setting mainly to surprise intended victims. The form of exhibitionism that is accompanied by the actual ejaculation of a person or an object is known as “saliromania.” The saliromaniac publicly exposes his genitalia and masturbates to orgasm in some cases on a living victim or an inanimate representation of a woman like a statue or an image. Another form is “photoexhibitionism,” where a man carries around a photograph of his erect organ and displays the picture to others (Murphy and Page, 2008).
Another form is “faecal exhibitionism,” a practice where a robber defecates in the invaded home, thus exhibiting the contents of his bowels as a sadistic offering. Exhibitionism involves obscene telephone calls, where the male individual often shows destructive contents of his mind to an unsuspecting female caller on the telephone. Cordess referred to this behaviour as “verbal exhibitionism”; it is historically known as “telephone scatalogia.” Exhibitionism is linked to other forms of psychopathology like frotteurism, the rubbing of one’s genitals on the body of an unsuspecting individual, as well as sadistic sexual fantasies (Tan and Zhong 2001, 297). Abel and Osborn (1992) found a strong co-association between exhibitionism and frotteurism, rape, pedophilia, transvestism, and voyeurism (675).
Psychoanalysis of Exhibitionism
Psychoanalysis summarizes exhibitionism as a sexual perversion, which serves as a statement of internal anxiety, usually linked with early childhood traumas that functions as a defense against castration anxiety and as a way of promoting masculine potency. It also protects the victim from sexual intercourse with women and homosexuality that could be perceived as castrational and dangerous (Kennedy, 2001). In early childhood experiences, exhibitionists might experience deprivation of care in the mother-baby relationship and subjection to natural scenes of bodily exposure in the home. Psychoanalytical workers associate the act with recent trauma, abandonment, or humiliation (ibid). Kolacky and Madlafousek (1980) consider exhibitionism a disorder of the initial stages of the sexual motivation system. They emphasized that exhibitionists avoid their sexual partners while choosing an object for their exhibition and, at the same time, avoid friendly erotic communication (479).
Classification of Exhibitionism
According to Aggrawal (2009, 1-8), there are two main classes of exhibitionism:
Non-threatening exhibitionism: This may be physically displayed in two primary ways. First, flashing involves exposing one’s private parts to another person or group of persons in a situation where it would not normally be exposed, like in a social gathering or a public place. When done by females, the act of flashing involves the breasts but may be partially sexual in intention when involving her vulva and buttocks, which prompts the sexual arousal of those being flashed and gives the flasher an ego boost. However, flashing may also be intended to attract the non-aroused attention of others or for shock purposes. Non-threatening exhibitionism can be displayed within a like-minded group that desires to expose themselves to one another. That type of exhibitionism has various sub-types, such as nudist club resorts to small groups of acquaintances sharing a skinny dipping or hot tub without wearing bathing suits.