ABSTRACT
The concept of narcissism is used in both a descriptive and an explanatory sense. It describes the tendency to over-value and idealize mental and physical aspects of the self and objects (Freud, 1914c). An individual may overvalue his body, powers of thought, judgement, ideals, and ethical standards. The lover idealizes his beloved, and the homosexual man overvalues his partner’s body, and the penis in particular. The concept of narcissism is also used to explain certain characteristics of a relationship that exists between one individual and another. The psychoanalytic treatment of male homosexuals led to the hypothesis that the love object of the male homosexual represents his own self (ego), either as he is, as he once was, or as he wishes to be (Freud, 1914c). The homosexual love object is based on the wish to recover the adolescent or childhood self while the individual plays the part of the mother. Again the choice may spring from the wish to possess a virile body. These types of object choice are described as narcissistic because of the involvement of the self. Such (narcissistic) choice may also be inferred from the characteristics of the object choice of heterosexual men and women.
