Sexual Disgust Redux

Abstract

This critique of Lawrence Josephs's paper on sexual disgust offers an alternate understanding of what is meant by the term "relational." To this end, the work of Georges Bataille is appropriated toward a relational understanding of sexual disgust, both as it relates to the content of the phenomenon and as a model for investigation. The perspective adopted from Bataille is then applied to Josephs's clinical case material. The critique testifies to the need for a more expansive relational perspective, including cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural contact.