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Long regarded as a marginal phenomenon, fetishism reshaped the foundations of psychoanalysis. By tracing the evolution of Freud’s thinking on fetishism — from his early pathologisation to his later understanding of it as a source of sexual and psychic meaning — this book reveals how his attention to fetishism compelled him to rethink desire, object‑choice, and the roots of inner conflict. In this book, Ednei Soares, drawing on the influence of Alfred Binet, early neuropathology, and later debates in Lacanian theory, as well as feminist, queer, and trans theory, explains why fetishism became central to discussions that shape gender studies today and contemporary reflections on identity.
An Acceptable Abnormality? invites readers to view fetishism not as a curious anomaly but as a powerful lens through which we can understand how desire takes form. This compelling book opens new ways of thinking about human sexuality, making it essential reading for specialists while remaining accessible to a broad audience.
Ednei Soares is a psychoanalyst and holds a PhD from Radboud University. He is a Research Assistant at the Center for Contemporary European Philosophy and conducts research in Brazil and the Netherlands for the Stichting Psychoanalytische Fondsen. His academic career has included work at Radboud University's Behavioural Science Institute and teaching at universities in Brazil. He is a member of SIPP–ISPP.
Soares traces the 'riddle of fetishism' with rare historical precision, showing how Freud's most unstable concept became the secret engine of psychoanalytic thought itself – and why it still unsettles our categories today. - Esther Hutfless, Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna