Heterosexual displacements of homosexuality clinical implications

This article explores the possibilities for the relationship between various taboo heterosexual relationships and an underlying homosexual preference. The analytic literature has not explored the tendency for many suppressed or repressed homosexuals to marry in order to escape shame over their sexual feelings and to avoid the social rejection experienced by those who are openly gay. The hypothesis stated here is that persons who are unconsciously gay are more likely to incorporate an element of taboo in their heterosexual relationships. The taboo heterosexual relationship substitutes for the more verboten homosexual one and provides an element of “being different”; that may provide greater sexual arousal than a conventional relationship.