Dear Colleagues,
On Friday, October 27, at 8PM at Hatch Auditorium (Madison and 100th Street 2nd floor) CFS presents an out of the box, experimental meeting on Helen Gediman’s book “Stalker, Hacker, Voyeur, Spy.” Joining Helen will be Peter Dunn and Elizabeth Fritsch and YOU, the audience. We are aiming for a round table type discussion even though we have no round table. So please join us and bring your ideas, questions, and comments – even if you have not read the book, which will be on sale at the venue.
Helen’s beautifully written and fascinating book uses Freud’s focus on the sexual and aggressive aspects of voyeurism and its relatives, stalking, hacking, spying. And because pathology is our business, we must explore its roots in order to better understand it.
Can we expand our view from the primal scene/sexual root of voyeurism to the normal curiosity we all have and how it gets played out in healthy and unhealthy ways? Why does curiosity becomes pathological?
How might this baby https://youtu.be/yRsjJ-u2ipw become Harry Caul of The Conversation?
Harry tells us: Listen, my name is Harry Caul. Can you hear me? Don’t be afraid. I know you don’t know who I am, but I know you. There isn’t much to say about myself. I – was very sick when I was a boy. I was paralyzed in my left arm and my left leg. I couldn’t walk for six months. One doctor said that I’d probably never walk again. My mother used to lower me into a hot bath – it was therapy. One time the doorbell rang and she went down to answer it. I started sliding down. I could feel the water starting to come up to my chin, up to my nose, and when I woke up, my body was all greasy from the holy oil she put on my body. I remember being disappointed I survived. When I was five, my father introduced me to a friend of his, and for no reason at all, I hit him right in the stomach with all my strength. He died a year later. He’ll kill ya if he gets the chance. I’m not afraid of death but I am afraid of murder.
And who knows what Julain Assange’s childhood was like? Helen’s book sparked my interest in espionage and I bought the new biography of John le Carre, aka David Cornwall. The world of espionage may shed some light on what really drives not only the spies but our own vicarious interest in spy tales. Same with murder mysteries. It goes without saying that paranoia is a major player in all of this. Have we really figured out what causes it?
The movies and cases in Helen’s book all center on curiosity gone wild. Does rejection, starvation, either emotional or literal lead to voyeuristic pathology? Is obsession related to deprivation or overstimulation? These are just a few questions – and while celebrating Helen’s book you are encouraged to bring your own ideas. Why? To talk with each other, to exchange thoughts on stalking, hacking, voyeurism, and spying. Our aim is to include the audience in stimulating discussions that might inspire you to write on the topic. And perhaps Helen will write volume two incorporating some of your ideas.
The baby seems programmed to connect, to ask who, what, where, how, and when. Curiosity serves individuation and when this seems unsafe, curiosity can be partially satisfied passively. Watching the world versus participating indicates a passivity that is comforting and that even wards off depression. But even passive watching can be adaptive in quenching curiosity. Without curiosity we would not thrive or advance. If curiosity is seen as a natural drive or instinct, we can understand how, in times of insecurity, overstimulation, and abuse, it changes into perverse-like behavior. For instance, in Rear Window we see Jimmy Stewart’s character turn away from adult pleasure/performance to the titillating comfort of watching others perform. His broken leg seems to have set off a regression? And does his girlfriend represent a demanding Mom? Which came first?
But as Helen’s book shows us, in myriad ways, curiosity has an even more dangerous side. What happens? Does our natural quest for safety and trust, when thwarted (Fairbairn) become sexualized as in Freud’s view? Does the infant/toddler react with anger at a controlling Mom well before the primal scene? Does perversity begin in the cradle?
The latest Watch, Wait, Wonder movement seems quite relevant to a healthy greeting of curiosity for it allows a caretaker to watch a baby, to tune into the individual baby’s idiom (Bollas), rather than to direct it. Like in analysis, every time the analyst speaks, the pt is cut off. Could the Moms who have trouble watching and allowing the infant to guide them be squelching an important drive that when stifled leads to the rage in perversion? You can see (NPI) how Helen’s book got me thinking!
Curiosity and the forms it takes; the wish to know; the fear of knowing; unconscious exhibitionism; even object constancy; are topics that lend themselves to discussion so please join us.
Hopefully, we will end up with more questions than answers.
Sincerely,
Jane Hall, Linda Greenberg, Kim Kleinman, Arnie Richards
Jane Hall
janehallpsychotherapy.com