Fetishing the object of your eye

The second project is a series of questions relating the formalisation of and customs, manners and taboos around looking. It is based on the two articles by Fenichel and Freud, the notes of which I have included in the Learning Notes part of the blog.

How does what you have read help your understanding of why and how we look at things in a ritualised way - for instance going to an art gallery?

The implication here is that we are 'looking' rather than 'seeing',that we are seeking to understand and/or engage with the activity, not merely passively to observe it. In the lexicon of Fenichel we are 'devouring with our eyes'.

When reading the article, I alluded briefly to Fenichel's reference to the aim of the scoptophilic instinct - to look at the sexual object. It is unlikely that Fenichel was referring specifically to pornography as the industry was nascent in 1930s (though see Delta of Venus for  contemporary examples) but his theory fits very well with what is now a widespread activity. The BBC technology correspondent (2013) estimates that 4% of websites and 14% of searches are pornography related. It is likely that viewers do wish to share the experience they view; in what one would presume to be a minority of cases, there may also be a desire of viewers to destroy by looking at it - if the viewer cannot sample this, then why should anyone else? Fenichel's analysis seems prescient in this regard.

Freud's analysis of fetishes has become common understanding nowadays. It is difficult to generalise about fetishes as there are so many, but the way some people view body parts is common. AskMen (2013) mentions feet as being common fetishes for both sexes; woman having orgasms sucking men's fingers, and men's predilection for hair - ponytails for example may represent whips to some men. Oddee (2009) mentions some unusual fetishes, including a woman with objectophilia who married the Berlin wall, and fetishes using balloons, an example of an everyday object of innocent fun that also has an entirely different contextual meaning. The moral is to look at objects with a broad mind and imagination. 

As a football fan, I am interested in why people watch sport? Some texts (e.g. Bung, 2013) emphasise the tribal nature of support, that it is to many fans as much (perhaps more) abusing the "enemy" as supporting their own team. Fenichel's idea that sadistic impulses are part of the impulse of looking are relevant here. 

But football is unusual in having such a high degree of tribalism amongst its followers. In other sports, banter between opposing fans is less aggressive if present at all. Rugby fans supporting opposing teams regularly mix on the terraces so what are these fans looking for? Is it merely the excitement or is it more than that - the assimilation of what the players are doing? As a football fan, I know my skills are nowhere near as honed as those I watch - do I somehow experience some assimilation (indeed fantasise that I might be able to do a scissors kick, say) from watching? In my own experience as a runner, I occasionally dream of entering the Mall as the first runner in the London Marathon.

This of course applies equally to viewing of art or musical performances - the skill, imagination and flair that the artist has demonstrated is way beyond what all bar the tiniest minority of viewers could hope to match. Perhaps they too experience identification. 

Do the articles suggest to you reasons for staring at someone being at best bad manners and at worst threatening?

In two respects, Fenichel's article suggests that people might feel uncomfortable or even threatened by being stared at:

•  he talks of the observer 'devouring with his eyes' when gazing intently at an object. If we accept this at face value, then clearly a person who is the object of the gaze is likely to feel uncomfortable, that he or she is being devoured by the person staring;
• he claims secondly that the aim of the scoptophilic instinct is to look at the sexual object so again, on this analysis, the subject of an intense stare will feel uncomfortable even if she (most likely) is no entirely aware of what the gazer is fixated on. Freud points out in his  article that the fetishist himself (Freud implicitly assumes male) has some advantage over his subject as only he knows what the fetish is.

Anecdotally, there can be little doubt that women in particular feel uncomfortable in situations where they perceive they are being stared at. Take the gym I attend. I would estimate that the gender balance of membership is about equal, but that women are more likely to attend classes than exercise alone; the reverse is true of men, some of whose aim is to "get a six pack" to show off their bodies. Women are also much less evident in the sauna, again one presumes because they perceive they may be stared at. 

So, yes, the articles do suggest reasons for staring to be bad manners or threatening, and it would appear to be females who feel it more than males. Social media has exacerbated the problem - girls sexting (texting naked images of themselves) has become common, probably resulting from peer pressure. In a study quoted by CBN News (2013), a researcher found that 21% of Christian girls had sexted in the previous year. 

It is important not to believe that all staring is related to sex. People with physical abnormalities can be the subject of unwanted stares, particularly by children, who exercise curiosity unwittingly, not understanding the consequences for the object of the stare. The idea that the starer is trying to devour or assimilate the person being started at, or that there is a fetish involved, is not applicable here. The result is similar, but the analysis more straightforward.

As a photographer, I am especially interested in Fenichel's paragraph on p337 where he reminds us that "man's mechanical ingenuity has actually created a 'devouring eye'", referring to the camera. He goes too far when he says that the dread of being photographed shown by some children and adults "invariably" consider it to be "an eye which is going to bite off some part of them." This might have been true in 1935, but hardly so now. In Egypt, my wife and I were surrounded by children (girls mainly) keen to have their image taken, an example being below:

But Fenichel's bold statement does strike a nerve, when one considers the genre of street photography, or grab shots. At a superficial level, photographers talk of 'capturing' an image as if indeed they are devouring the subject. Taking random images of people breaks no laws (other than harassment in extreme circumstances), though photography of children is unwise in certain circumstances, and photography is often banned in swimming pools. Without this general freedom we would not have had the 'decisive moments' of Cartier Bresson, for example. 

This is fine in Western societies, but arguably less so in other cultures. There may remain cases where some people do feel 'devoured' or that the photographer has removed their spirit, not always easy to know ahead of snapping. I like to take images of ordinary folk simply (I believe) to add interest to a portfolio, to reflect on the human side. For example, on a recent vacation in Nepal we visited Bhaktapur; I wished to reflect on more of the World Heritage Site than the many stupas and Hindu shrines so took images also of the residents, of which these are some examples:

The woman in the first picture had no reaction to being photographed - she was, I think, aware of me, but passed no comment and asked for no money. The second woman was uncomfortable, and many photographers may have moved on. I gave her some rupees. The man was completely unaware of being photographed; he seems to be in pain and or mentally anguished. The woman in the final image was content to be photographed with her baby. 

Is there anything that can be adduced from the relation between me as photographer and the subjects?  There are some who would view these images as voyeuristic, not in a sexual manner but more in the sense of Fenichel - that I am devouring the objects. Perhaps it is exploitation. Richard Billingham was criticised when he took and published images of his dysfunctional family in books such as Ray's a Laugh. His mantra is that  “All photographs are exploitive, all you can do is make the photographs so artistically good you overshadow that exploitive element that is inherent in the medium.”(quoted in BBC DVD, 2006). I can only repeat that my motivation is to add balance to what we saw that day by taking images of ordinary folk, to capture their expressions, dress and surroundings.

Can you make any suggestions as to the reasons for some people's need to avidly watch television?

I can suggest the following:

• Boredom - for some people in less than fulfilling jobs (or in no job) or personal circumstances, TV can simply fill the time;
• People with physical or mental incapacity, or those who are frail due to old age, often watch much TV as there is simply not much else they can do, as I can vouch from personal experience with elderly relatives;

It might be argued that the above cases are not people who watch TV "avidly", in an addictive sense, but more because of circumstance. The following reasons are more pertinent to the themes of Fenichel and Freud:

• There are some people addicted to TV for a particular interest. Pornography was certainly one until the computer took over, sport another;
• Some people are hooked on soaps. These do indeed 'devour' the object by ocular introjection, and there is probably much in the idea that they seek to assimilate the behaviour of those they see, and perhaps copy them in their imagination. The soaps fill a vacuum, provide some excitement, albeit enacted by others while watched from a sofa;
• Lastly, there is TV addiction. An internet search provides much analysis of the subject A good example is by Goleman (1990) who saw TV dependency as an addiction like any other. He points out that many are aware of watching too much, yet seem powerless to do anything about it. Fenichel and Freud provide mechanisms of how this sort of addiction might come about, albeit little on addiction itself.

 

What visual fetishes have you noticed in everyday life - your own or others?

Collectors of objects exhibit fetish tendencies. I used to collect football programmes, and there are many who enthusiastically continue the pursuit, even in this day of electronic media. Websites such as footballprogrammes.com provide an avenue for the enthusiast.

One pursuit that I find bemusing is fishing, as in sitting on a river bank for hours on end for it is a pointless pursuit in terms of tangible outcome (with the exception perhaps of competition fishing). Do its adherents find solace in peace or removal from responsibility? 

Gardening is a very English fetishist pursuit - I think ocular introjection has something to say here, not exactly in the literal sense of wishing a plant to enter into the enthusiast, perhaps more tangentially in the pleasure of seeing something grow, mature, and either be eaten or die.

My wife would say I am addicted to exercise - I aim to exercise 4-5 times a week, sometimes at less than ideal times. Exercise can be addictive, which may be caused by the release of beta endorphins during exercise, and/or psychological reasons, notably low self esteem (American Running Association, 2013). I would argue that I do not exhibit the signs of excess exercise as I have a variety of interests, the problem is more of fitting in a number of disparate pursuits into my life. My fetish is to avoid boredom, the need to exercise is but one manifestation of that. 

Why are people so keen to display wedding photos or family portraits?

I can adduce several reasons:

• Photographs of particular events such as weddings or graduations act as a reminder of formal occasions, the closest we have to rituals in today's secular society;
• They celebrate achievement of self or relatives;
• Portraits can act as a reminder of happier days in circumstances where perhaps a tragedy has occurred or a relationship broken down;
• They can act as milestones in the lives of the subjects - marriage, birth of a child, child in school uniform etc;
• They can act as an antidote to the day to day existence, a tangible demonstration of events outside humdrum life;
• People can show off the success of relatives or themselves.

I make no judgement as to which of these is most important - I may have missed some more important factors.

Conclusion

I was concerned with this project that I would not understand the brief, but once started to make notes, realised that a) I had understood more of the psychology than perhaps I thought; b) that it has direct relevance to visual culture in general and photography in particular. I have more respect for psychology than I started with. It does provide a way of thinking about how we see the world around us, not merely to take these matters for granted.

References 

American Running Association (2013) Know the signs of unhealthy exercise addiction
[Accessed 31 December 2013]. Available from:http://www.active.com/articles/know-the-signs-of-unhealthy-exercise-addiction

AskMen (2013) Top 10 fetishes [Online]. [Accessed 31 December 2013]. Available from: http://uk.askmen.com/dating/vanessa/25_love_secrets.html
 
BBC DVD (2006) The Genius of Photography (released by Wall to Wall Media Limited)

BBC technology correspondent (2013) Web porn: Just how much is there? [Online]. [Accessed 31 December 2013]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23030090
 
Bung (2013) Chelsea Fan: Tribalism Is Ugly But I Can't Help Abusing People on Twitter [Online]. [Accessed 31 December 2013].http://sabotagetimes.com/reportage/chelsea-fan-tribalism-is-ugly-but-i-cant-help-abusing-people-on-twitter/

CBN News (2013) Gen XXX: Teens Addicted in a World Awash in Porn.
[Accessed 31 December 2013]. Available from: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2012/November/Gen-XXX-Teens-Addicted-in-a-World-Awash-in-Porn/

Goleman (1990)  How Viewers Grow Addicted To Television [Accessed 31 December 2013]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/16/science/how-viewers-grow-addicted-to-television.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Oddee (2009) 8 Freakiest Fetishes [Online]. [Accessed 31 December 2013]. Available from http://www.oddee.com/item_96718.aspx