Homosexuality

1. Etymology

Homosexuality, in Sharp’s psychological characterization, is usually identified with identification with the anima (and related mother material). Related: hermaphroditic archetype; Original Man; libido not a fixed heterosexual quantum.

2. Plain summary

Jung acknowledged potential neurotic effects and did not treat homosexuality as illness in itself. Sharp quotes him: given its frequency, “pathological perversion” is dubious; findings point rather to incomplete detachment from the hermaphroditic archetype and resistance to one-sided sexual role—preserving, up to a point, the archetype of the Original Man.

Samuels insists on ascertaining whether Jung means external genital orientation, a latent version, or an inner-world tendency. Practice he sometimes called limiting; a homosexual period may be psychologically necessary for some; as sexuality’s component and as inner factor it can be inevitable and potentially valuable. Structural reading: identification with contrasexual components (anima / animus)—contingent pairing language, not a contemporary diagnostic slogan.

Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common homosexuality motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):
not illness in itself (Sharp); hermaphroditic archetype; Original Man preserved; anima identification; mother neighborhood; external vs latent vs inner (Samuels); component of sexuality; libido not fixed hetero quantum; structural pairing (contingent); period of passage; potentially valuable inner factor.

3. Academic elucidation

In analytical psychology this lemma is lexicon + historical structural reading—Archetypes and the Anima Concept territory in Sharp. Descent Press keeps Sharp and Samuels in §4. §5 holds sample CW stamps at CW 9i ¶146. Prefer CW 9i.

4. Lexicon

Sharp (1991)

Homosexuality. Usually characterized psychologically by identification with the anima. (See also mother complex.) Jung acknowledged the potential neurotic effects of homosexuality, but he did not see it as an illness in itself: … its interpretation as a pathological perversion is very dubious. … incomplete detachment from the hermaphroditic archetype… preserves the archetype of the Original Man…

(Sharp, 1991) — cites CW 9i ¶146 in Sharp’s lemma.

Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986) — homosexuality pp. 67–68

homosexuality It is necessary to ascertain whether Jung is referring to homosexuality as an external sexual orientation leading to genital activity, or a latent version of that, or to an inner world tendency. … homosexuality as such is recognised as a component of sexuality… as an inner world factor, it is inevitable and potentially psychologically valuable…

(Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986, pp. 67–68)

5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

… also homosexuality, which is usually characterized by identity with the anima. In view of the recognized frequency of this phenomenon, its interpretation as a pathological perversion is very dubious. The psychological findings show that it is rather a matter of incomplete detachment from the hermaphroditic archetype, coupled with a distinct resistance to identify with the role of a one-sided sexual being. Such a disposition should not be adjudged negative in all circumstances, in so far as it preserves the archetype of the Original Man…
(Jung, 1936/1968, CW 9i, ¶146)

See also: anima; animus; mother; libido; projection; persona; eros.

References

Jung, C. G. (1968). Concerning the archetypes, with special reference to the anima concept. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 9, Pt. 1, ¶146). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1936)

Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis. Routledge.

Sharp, D. (1991). Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts. Inner City Books.