What’s Love Got to Do with It?

In light of our understanding that ‘there is no sexual rapport’ il n’y a pas de rapport sexuel, how do we assess what Freud writes about the mother-son relationship? The evidence of psychoanalysis shows that almost every intimate emotional relation between two people which lasts for some time – marriage, friendship, the relation between parents and children – contains a sediment of feelings of aversion and hostility, which only escapes perception as a result of repression[2]... perhaps with the solitary exception of the relation of a mother to her son, which is based on narcissism, is not disturbed by subsequent rivalry, and is reinforced by a rudimentary attempt at sexual object-choice.[3] A mother is only brought unlimited satisfaction by her relation to a son; this is altogether the most perfect, the most free from ambivalence of all human relationships…