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Abstract

This study examined the psychosexual symbolic significance of the letter “I” in the handwriting of male homosexuals and a male control group. It was argued that symbols are enmeshed with the subject's daily conflicts. For this reason, it was suggested that the symbols also be taken from the subjects' everyday lives and that the subjects create these symbols themselves, rather than the experimenter attempting to create symbols for the subjects. Further, a distinction was made between symbols that are created and symbols that are chosen. Handwriting samples were collected from 25 male homosexuals and 25 male controls to see if the letter “I” (as the ego) carried this special indirect representation. As expected, homosexuals created more proportional (feminine) “I”s, while controls produced “I”s that were more elongated (masculine) in their symbolic shape. Other letters, for which no self-representational elements were apparent, did not statistically differ between samples.

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Psychosexual Symbolism in the Handwriting of Male Homosexuals

Abstract

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References