beating fantasies

Definition

In psychoanalysis, the theory that fantasies involving beatings have a hidden sexual meaning as, for example, an adolescent girl's fantasies that her father is beating her might mean that she is being punished for incestuous feelings towards him; if she fantasizes that he is beating another child, it might mean she feels he loves only her; if a boy fantasizes being beaten by his father, it might also be an unconscious expression of the fathers love for him; if the mother is beating him it is interpreted as a defence against homosexual impulses.