By Maria Koulourioti,
Introductory Note for Readers: This article contains strong language. All curse words in this article are aimed at describing a societal phenomenon.
The “Madonna-Whore” Complex. Simply because people must fit into boxes, they are not ideas, they are norms. Most specifically, women are not entitled to freedom. Not physically, in Gaza, with the situation of imprisonment, not in Texas, where statutory rape is less of a crime than an abortion, and not in the very progressive post-modern Western world (which is ironic, considering that the West is not at all progressive when it comes to women’s rights). And, lastly, women are not entitled to mental freedom, as society has already proven, by classifying a woman’s worth based on cold, meaningless numbers. In some cases, a lack of a number. It almost looks like, the second sex, just like Beauvoir herself would repeatedly explain, is going to get societal judgment no matter what.
According to psychoanalytic literature, a Madonna-Whore complex is the inability to maintain sexual excitement when in a committed, loving relationship. Sigmund Freud first described this psychological complex as mental impotence, and it is supposed to develop in males who perceive women as either holy Madonnas or debased individuals, with low self-worth. Whores, to be specific. Men with this issue want a sexual partner who has been “humiliated” (the promiscuous), but they cannot desire a respected spouse (the Saint). In his book, Freud wrote: “Where such men love they have no desire and where they desire they cannot love.” In 2009, clinical psychologist Uwe Hartmann noted that the complex “is still highly prevalent in today’s patients”. In retrospect, and according to Dr. Sigmund, men acquire a phobia of incest in connection to their mothers in early childhood, which lasts throughout their lives. Thus, if the avoidant guy eventually meets someone who resembles his mother and can meet his emotional needs in a manner that his mother could not, his fear of incest comes in, and he rejects or just has platonic feelings for her. As a result, the Madonna’s status is directly reinforced upon her.
The avoidant guy with a Madonna-whore mentality seeks vengeance because of his wrath from early infancy. This retribution will consist of seeking out women with whom he can have sexual relations and then discard. He will either directly or tacitly label these women as nasty and trashy. He will have no regard for them and will be incapable of admiring or loving them. These ladies are subconsciously allocated the “whore” status.
To give some perspective into the theoretical context, the Madonna-Whore complex is the result of masculine psychology, which limits female sexuality. Males exaggerate genuine distinctions by categorizing girls as chaste “Madonnas” or promiscuous “whores.” This complex is also a sort of sexual dissociation, as feminist theory suggests that it stems from power inequalities, and postmodern critics argue that it is a Western cultural trait of patriarchal tyranny. While the Madonna-Whore complex does contradict the reality of female sexuality, it might be a feature rather than a flaw. As previously said, it is an evolved psychological manifestation of parental uncertainty. Understanding its biological foundations helps us to position the Madonna-Whore complex into an evolutionary framework of sexual struggle.
There are two scales of this complex, (if it’s not yet crystal clear;). At first glance, it consists of the Virginity Taboo, and then, what I would personally refer to as the equation of female sexuality. Perhaps I would even venture to suggest that this subject of virginity lies at the center of our inquiry into the nature of femininity. Four motifs appear in sequence throughout the taboo. These four ideas are linked by a relatively disorganized articulation: distinguishing and deconstructing them necessitates a more thorough reading of de Beauvoir.
The first is the condition of “sexual subjection” (translated from French), which Freud considered a feature of feminine sexuality. In German, Freud uses a powerful phrase that would make feminists cry with rage: Hörigkeit, which means slavery or bondage in the historical sense of the word. The second theme is the taboo of virginity, which can be observed among the so-called ‘primitive’ peoples (that was the language of the time), and whose significance Freud expands on fairly quickly, maintaining that what is signified by this specific taboo is, in fact, the taboo of women in general, the taboo-woman. The third theme expresses, to some extent, the modern version of the virginity taboo in our culture – at least at the time of writing the article – because Freud, in 1918, was far from insensitive to changes in the traditions on which the civilization was founded, and in whose bosom he invented and introduced psychoanalysis.
When all of this is taken into account, it is clear that cuckoldry poses a significant threat to men. men oppress females by dichotomizing their sexuality, whereas females threaten men by participating in short-term, extra-pair copulations. Thus, from seeing one-sided oppression of a socio-cultural origin, we progress to an understanding of mutual conflict naturally extending from the biological realities of human mating among males and females with different interests.
It is almost undoubtedly that this specific phenomenon never failed to apply to reality. Soon enough, popular networks may use it as a trend. Think of it as a Buzzfeed quiz: “Find out your aesthetic: Madonna or Whore?”. In humanistic terms, these options would translate as: “To have rights as a woman, or do not have rights as a woman?”.
References
- Bareket, O., Kahalon, R., Shnabel, N., & Glick, P. (2018). The Madonna-Whore dichotomy: Men who perceive women’s nurturance and sexuality as mutually exclusive endorse patriarchy and show lower relationship satisfaction. Sex Roles, 79, 519–532.
- Buss, D. M., & Dedden, L. A. (1990). Derogation of competitors. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7, 395–422.
- Hertler, S. C., Perñaherrera-Aguirre, M., & Figueredo, A. J. (2023, May 22). An Evolutionary Explanation of the Madonna-Whore Complex. Evolutionary Psychological Science. Available here
