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[[Voyeurism]] is a [[practice ]] in which the [[individual]] derives [[sexual]] [[pleasure]] from observing other [[people]]. Such people may be engaged in sexual [[acts]], or be nude or in underwear, or dressed in whatever other way the "voyeur" finds appealing. The [[word ]] derives from [[French ]] verb [[voir ]] (to see) with the -eur suffix that translates as -or in [[English]]. A literal [[translation ]] would then be “seeor” or "[[observer]]", with pejorative connotations.

[[Voyeurism]] is a deviant [[manifest]]ation of [[sexuality]] that involves [[look]]ing without [[being ]] [[see]]n in [[order ]] to obtain [[sexuality|sexual]] [[pleasure]].

In <i>[[Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality]]</i>,<ref>1905d</ref> [[Freud]] examines [[perversion|sexual perversion]] and indicates the circumstances under which "the [[pleasure]] of [[look]]ing [[[scopophilia]]] becomes a [[perversion]] (a) if it is restricted exclusively to the [[genitals]], or (b) if it is connected with the overriding of disgust (as in the [[case ]] of <i>voyeurs</i> or people who look on at excretory functions), or (c) if, instead of being <i>preparatory</i> to the normal [[sexual aim]], it supplants it."

Later, in "[[Instincts ]] and Their Vicissitudes" (1915c), he provided a [[metapsychology|metapsychological]] explanation for the [[instinct]] of [[look]]ing, which involved the voyeur-[[exhibitionism|exhibitionist]] pair and the [[reversal]] of [[activity]] into [[passivity]] in connection with a precise [[object]]: "the sexual member."

The different [[instinctual ]] currents of [[see]]ing are inflected by the voyeur, who tries to see the [[other]]'s [[genitals]] while hiding his own, but who also tries to be seen [[looking]], in order to respond to what he believes is the [[other]]'s [[desire]] to [[see]].

[[Freud]] continued to emphasize the visual component of the [[perversion]]s, but for him the specificity of [[voyeurism]] is important because of the vicissitude of the [[instinct]] of looking rather than its [[role ]] in perversions. Rather than allowing the evolution of the instinct (component) of looking to develop in different directions, the voyeur reduces the sexual and the visual in sex to a narrow, stereotypical sexual [[situation]]. He appears to do away with the sexual, the [[multiplicity ]] of [[objects ]] and choices, by wrapping [[them ]] in a rigid [[fantasy]]. He tries to block the [[aggression ]] in the instinct in order to obtain pleasure, to the detriment of the other. By [[splitting ]] the ego, he uses sex for the [[purpose ]] of discharging instinctual [[violence]]. By appropriating the other as [[image]], the voyeur makes it an object of pleasure, while remaining uninvolved in the other's intimacy. The voyeur does not seek any [[form ]] of [[exchange ]] or [[relationship]], but obtains pleasure by seizing the other's image against its will. The [[goal ]] is not only the [[sight ]] of parts of the [[body ]] that are concealed out of [[modesty ]] or [[cultural ]] opprobrium, but also to dismember the body of the other. The voyeur watches what is [[forbidden ]] in order to destroy the [[physical ]] integrity of the person by substituting a dismembered body for the [[unified ]] image.

The instinct to see is used through [[disavowal ]] and [[fetish ]] [[formation ]] to deny [[castration]]. The fantasy of the [[phallic ]] [[mother ]] and the [[split ]] of [[awareness ]] of the [[lack ]] of a [[penis ]] leads to rage and [[need ]] for revenge towards her.

For Masud Khan, the [[pervert ]] does not succeed in creating a [[transitional object ]] when reacting against the encroachment of the [[maternal ]] [[unconscious]], but manages to fabricate an "[[internal ]] collage-object," which he then tries to discover in [[external ]] [[reality]]. The voyeur engages in this type of theatricalization of the sexual relation by manipulation, submission, and [[humiliation ]] of the object.

Robert Stoller has insisted on the cultural [[necessity ]] of the perversion "forged by [[society ]] and the [[family ]] so that they are not harmed further" by instinctual [[cruelty]]. Because [[voyeurism]]turns the other into an image, an object of [[envy ]] and covetousness, it appears to also bear [[witness ]] to the visual focus of Western society. [[Seeing ]] at any cost is an imperative that is often confused with [[science]]'s [[objective ]] of [[mastery]]. In an "omnivisual [[world]]," according to Jacques [[Lacan]]'s expression, the voyeur becomes the one who does not allow himself to be blinded by sexual [[difference ]] but cannot support the [[truth]]. He [[knows ]] exactly what his mother is like, but tries to save his phallic image through some visual sleight-of-hand. More than anyone, he denies what he sees: the rift between the [[sexes]], the fracture of bodies.

# Bonnet, Gérard. (1996). La violence du voir. [[Paris]]: Presses Universitaires de [[France]].# [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1905d). [[Three ]] essays on the [[theory ]] of sexuality. SE, 7: 123-243.