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Monday, October 18, 2010

Define Wrong

Charisse

In the first chapter of Daniel Bergner’s, The Other Side of Desire, the reader learns of a man named Jacob. This man has a learning disability and he also has an obsession with feet. We are told that feet are to him what breasts are to, what we will assume, most men.

This obsession with feet is a source of embarrassment for Jacob and the chapter shows us the ways that Jacob tries to fix the problem. What was interesting to me was that no one attempted to tell Jacob that it was okay for him to have this obsession. Jacob, applauded for taking the first step to recovery, was helped with pills. My approach would have been helping him to see that we all have little quirky behaviors and while his may be a bit more extreme than others, it was not something to be ashamed of. I would have liked to see a bit more tolerance shown for those who like things outside of the norm.

The book points out that there were some psychiatrists that saw Jacob’s obsession as a gift. “He owned the chance for ecstasy” (7). However, these psychiatrists’ voices were not heard by Jacob and furthermore, the other cases in the book, perhaps with the exception of the Baroness, are seen as people with abnormalities that need to be treated. The man with the horse is not told that he should not be ashamed of sleeping with horses. Instead, treatment is suggested.

There is no exploration of why certain sexual acts our considered wrong in our society. This is what really needs to be acknowledged. The man who admitted to having sex with horses said that he never forced a horse and he never touched the young horses. Why is it considered wrong to have sex with animals, willing animals?
The issue of why things are wrong is something that I would like to see added into Bergner’s text.


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