the madonna-whore complex

The idea of the “Madonna-Whore Complex'' was put forward by the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud in the early 1900s. I believe this psychological dichotomy can be summarized excellently in one of Freud’s most famous quotes: "Where such men love, they have no desire, and where they desire, they cannot love." Someone affected by this Madonna Complex would have an extreme preconcieved distinction between sexual and romantic partners, in that there could be no overlap. In simple terms, attraction, when influenced by this dichotomy, is completely black and white. People these men feel attracted to sexually are mere whores who are not worthy of anything more than sex, and people of whom they are attracted to romantically are viewed as delicate, gentle Madonnas who are too pure and innocent for sexuality. Lovers are either saint-like virgins or sexual objects. This is a very misogynistic outlook on attraction, as it dehumanizes women and reduces their state of being and worth to whether or not they are virgins, further reinforcing the patriarchy. In fact, a survey conducted among 108 heterosexual Israeli men showed a very strong correlation between endorsement of the dichotomy and endorsement of a patriarchal system. This complex has such negative affects on our outlook of women because of how normalized it is in our society, making it very common.