23 Feb Carl Jung and His Views on Sexuality
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in Marketing Yourself
I have previously written about Carl Jung and his theories of the unconscious and how archetypes may play a role in exploring power exchange in kinky practices. Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist, widely regarded as one of the most influential psychologists in history. Jung had interesting and progressive thoughts on sexuality that separated him from other professionals and academics in the field at the time. In this piece, I will discuss three areas of human sexuality that Jung contributed to and that remain relevant today. These areas were identified by Edward Santana in their groundbreaking work on Jung’s integration of sex into psychotherapy, “Jung and Sex.”
SEXUALITY IS EVERYWHERE
Jung believed that a person’s sexuality appears in everything that they do, and that a person cannot be disconnected from it. This stemmed from his early work regarding complexes, which are emotionally charged states that people experience regularly. They are not necessarily negative, but have the potential to pull us into states where we can review our reactions and why we feel the way we do. At the root of his early work on complexes was sexuality and eroticism, as he witnessed in his patients bizarre and defensive reactions resulting from being exposed to sexually explicit material.
As a colleague of Sigmund Freud, this piqued his interest. A pioneer of psychotherapy, Freud had a deep focus on exploring sex and sexuality; however, he believed that the basis of neuroses (feelings of unhappiness or distress and mental disorders such as depression and anxiety) was in childhood experiences that had sexual components. Jung’s work progressed beyond this, as he felt that the most useful way of helping people was to analyse their current conflicts as opposed to delving into people’s early life experiences.
Jung proposed that the erotic and sexual realm is always problematic for people because of the challenges we have in expressing ourselves naturally and authentically in this area. Sexual repression is rampant due to social norms and taboos, lack of quality sexual health education, and an overall failure to explore the complexities and depth that sexuality contributes to our lives. Jung saw this during his time as a psychoanalyst and psychologist in the early 20th century, and the same could be said for the world today.
SEXUALITY AND THE POWER OF THE UNCONSCIOUS
I have previously discussed Jung and his theories of the unconscious, and sexuality was not absent from his view of it. Jung saw the unconscious as a seething landscape of symbols, archetypes, and collective wisdom that is immense and multi-layered. These layers include sexuality, and Jung believed that through sexuality, deep levels of the psyche’s mythic, symbolic, and archetypes could be expressed.
What Jung found was that due to the unique repression and avoidance of sexuality, it provided experiences for individuals to explore their inner worlds. Exploring and confronting a person’s sexuality showed that denial of instincts and “complexes” increased the power of the unconscious over their day to day lives, resulting in distress and decreases in mental health. The pressure to conform to societal expectations, or deny natural desires and instinct, creates a split between inner needs and outer demands, which has a profound effect on a person’s mental health and ability to function. Jung theorised and found evidence that repellent things belong to our psyche, are natural features of it, and therefore denying them creates psychological tension which is difficult to escape. The expanded view of the psyche that Jung offered was a significant shift in how we conceptualise our inner world, and it revealed new possibilities for understanding human behaviour and mental health.
THE DANGERS OF OVER-SIMPLIFYING THEORIES
Jung conceptualised our psyche as being complex, vast, and multi-dimensional. He shied away from theories of the mind that oversimplified the way that it functions, as he saw that this resulted in fragmentation and polarisation. He did not believe that working with people on their mental health and well-being was a simple procedure where success could be achieved by following a predetermined set of steps. He also did not believe in symptoms belonging exclusively to the individual, but that symptoms of mental health distress, particularly those surrounding sex, reflect universal issues and attitudes towards the expression of sexuality. I have talked about this previously in my piece on stigma, how powerful stigma is not only in shaping community behaviour but also in shaping how individuals think and feel about themselves.
Jung’s emphasis on avoiding oversimplifying theories is echoed by modern psychotherapists, who see multi-modal therapies as being key to helping people overcome their difficulties. This includes widening the field of what is considered helpful therapies to encompass those with spiritual or mythical bases, beyond what we can see on the surface. Jung believed that surface level issues with sex and sexuality were tied to deeper issues of coming to terms with the complexities of our psyches. Powerful emotions and difficulties congregate around sex because it is an area where natural expression has not historically been encouraged. It is also deeply tied to our unconscious, where our shadow (the parts of ourselves that we reject or deny) reside, and Jung’s belief was that by pulling the conscious and unconscious selves into a harmonious whole, issues around sex and sexuality could be resolved.
But it is also important to note that Jung’s goal with his work wasn’t just to fix symptoms and improve people’s mental health; it was about engaging in the process of individuation, a lifelong journey of self-discovery and integrating the conscious with the unconscious. It could be argued that those who engage in kinky practices are in some way doing this work by confronting the parts of themselves that may be considered repellent or distasteful and integrating them with the other parts of themselves.
To finish up this piece, I would like to share the words of Carl Jung from Collected Works Volume 8, Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, as it describes the power he saw in exploring sexuality:
“Sexuality is not mere instinctuality; it is an indisputably creative power that is not only the basic cause of our individual lives, but a very serious factor in our psychic life as well.“
Rem Sequence is an Australian adult content creator, blogger, and internationally published alt model. She has a background in psychology, philosophy and political science and worked in health and sex education, youth work and trauma counselling for almost two decades. Now, she works full time in the adult industry, as well as indulging her passion for arts, writing and music in numerous side projects.
I have previously written about Carl Jung and his theories of the unconscious and how archetypes may play a role in exploring power exchange in kinky practices. Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist, widely regarded as one of the most influential psychologists in history. Jung had interesting and progressive thoughts on sexuality that separated him from other professionals and academics in the field at the time. In this piece, I will discuss three areas of human sexuality that Jung contributed to and that remain relevant today. These areas were identified by Edward Santana in their groundbreaking work on Jung’s integration of sex into psychotherapy, “Jung and Sex.”
SEXUALITY IS EVERYWHERE
Jung believed that a person’s sexuality appears in everything that they do, and that a person cannot be disconnected from it. This stemmed from his early work regarding complexes, which are emotionally charged states that people experience regularly. They are not necessarily negative, but have the potential to pull us into states where we can review our reactions and why we feel the way we do. At the root of his early work on complexes was sexuality and eroticism, as he witnessed in his patients bizarre and defensive reactions resulting from being exposed to sexually explicit material.
As a colleague of Sigmund Freud, this piqued his interest. A pioneer of psychotherapy, Freud had a deep focus on exploring sex and sexuality; however, he believed that the basis of neuroses (feelings of unhappiness or distress and mental disorders such as depression and anxiety) was in childhood experiences that had sexual components. Jung’s work progressed beyond this, as he felt that the most useful way of helping people was to analyse their current conflicts as opposed to delving into people’s early life experiences.
Jung proposed that the erotic and sexual realm is always problematic for people because of the challenges we have in expressing ourselves naturally and authentically in this area. Sexual repression is rampant due to social norms and taboos, lack of quality sexual health education, and an overall failure to explore the complexities and depth that sexuality contributes to our lives. Jung saw this during his time as a psychoanalyst and psychologist in the early 20th century, and the same could be said for the world today.
SEXUALITY AND THE POWER OF THE UNCONSCIOUS
I have previously discussed Jung and his theories of the unconscious, and sexuality was not absent from his view of it. Jung saw the unconscious as a seething landscape of symbols, archetypes, and collective wisdom that is immense and multi-layered. These layers include sexuality, and Jung believed that through sexuality, deep levels of the psyche’s mythic, symbolic, and archetypes could be expressed.
What Jung found was that due to the unique repression and avoidance of sexuality, it provided experiences for individuals to explore their inner worlds. Exploring and confronting a person’s sexuality showed that denial of instincts and “complexes” increased the power of the unconscious over their day to day lives, resulting in distress and decreases in mental health. The pressure to conform to societal expectations, or deny natural desires and instinct, creates a split between inner needs and outer demands, which has a profound effect on a person’s mental health and ability to function. Jung theorised and found evidence that repellent things belong to our psyche, are natural features of it, and therefore denying them creates psychological tension which is difficult to escape. The expanded view of the psyche that Jung offered was a significant shift in how we conceptualise our inner world, and it revealed new possibilities for understanding human behaviour and mental health.
THE DANGERS OF OVER-SIMPLIFYING THEORIES
Jung conceptualised our psyche as being complex, vast, and multi-dimensional. He shied away from theories of the mind that oversimplified the way that it functions, as he saw that this resulted in fragmentation and polarisation. He did not believe that working with people on their mental health and well-being was a simple procedure where success could be achieved by following a predetermined set of steps. He also did not believe in symptoms belonging exclusively to the individual, but that symptoms of mental health distress, particularly those surrounding sex, reflect universal issues and attitudes towards the expression of sexuality. I have talked about this previously in my piece on stigma, how powerful stigma is not only in shaping community behaviour but also in shaping how individuals think and feel about themselves.
Jung’s emphasis on avoiding oversimplifying theories is echoed by modern psychotherapists, who see multi-modal therapies as being key to helping people overcome their difficulties. This includes widening the field of what is considered helpful therapies to encompass those with spiritual or mythical bases, beyond what we can see on the surface. Jung believed that surface level issues with sex and sexuality were tied to deeper issues of coming to terms with the complexities of our psyches. Powerful emotions and difficulties congregate around sex because it is an area where natural expression has not historically been encouraged. It is also deeply tied to our unconscious, where our shadow (the parts of ourselves that we reject or deny) reside, and Jung’s belief was that by pulling the conscious and unconscious selves into a harmonious whole, issues around sex and sexuality could be resolved.
But it is also important to note that Jung’s goal with his work wasn’t just to fix symptoms and improve people’s mental health; it was about engaging in the process of individuation, a lifelong journey of self-discovery and integrating the conscious with the unconscious. It could be argued that those who engage in kinky practices are in some way doing this work by confronting the parts of themselves that may be considered repellent or distasteful and integrating them with the other parts of themselves.
To finish up this piece, I would like to share the words of Carl Jung from Collected Works Volume 8, Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, as it describes the power he saw in exploring sexuality:
“Sexuality is not mere instinctuality; it is an indisputably creative power that is not only the basic cause of our individual lives, but a very serious factor in our psychic life as well.“
Rem Sequence is an Australian adult content creator, blogger, and internationally published alt model. She has a background in psychology, philosophy and political science and worked in health and sex education, youth work and trauma counselling for almost two decades. Now, she works full time in the adult industry, as well as indulging her passion for arts, writing and music in numerous side projects.
