Primal scene
Encyclopedia
In psychoanalysis
, the primal scene is the initial witnessing by a child of a sex act
, usually between the parents, that traumatizes
the psychosexual development
of that child. The scene witnessed may also occur between animals, and be displaced
onto humans.
Ned Lukacher has proposed using the term in literary criticism
to refer to a kind of intertextuality
in which the ability to interpret one text depends on the meaning of another text.
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, the primal scene is the initial witnessing by a child of a sex act
Human sexual behavior
Human sexual activities or human sexual practices or human sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts from time to time, and for a wide variety of reasons...
, usually between the parents, that traumatizes
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
the psychosexual development
Psychosexual development
In Freudian psychology, psychosexual development is a central element of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory, that human beings, from birth, possess an instinctual libido that develops in five stages. Each stage — the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital — is characterized...
of that child. The scene witnessed may also occur between animals, and be displaced
Displacement (psychology)
In Freudian psychology, displacement is an unconscious defense mechanism whereby the mind redirects effects from an object felt to be dangerous or unacceptable to an object felt to be safe or acceptable...
onto humans.
Ned Lukacher has proposed using the term in literary criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
to refer to a kind of intertextuality
Intertextuality
Intertextuality is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can include an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another. The term “intertextuality” has, itself, been borrowed and transformed many times since it was coined...
in which the ability to interpret one text depends on the meaning of another text.
Further reading
- Paul Okami, Richard Olmstead, Paul R. Abramson and Laura Pendleton, "Early childhood exposure to parental nudity and scenes of parental sexuality ('primal scenes'): an 18-year longitudinal study of outcome," Archives of Sexual Behavior 27.4 (1998) 361–84, preview available.