[Modern images of womanhood and their relationship to fetishism].

The image of womanhood accepted by society has changed from the corseted lady at the beginning of the 20th century to the emancipated and booted woman of today. The dictates of fashion in clothing correspond to unconscious wishes nurtured by men; the present fashion enables latent fetishist tendencies to work themselves out within the social framework and is directed at creating the "phallic woman". The boot and leather fetishism masquerading under the guise of a fashionable trend sheds light on unconscious sexual behaviour in the male, the underlying psychodynamics of which are further illuminated by the -for the moment, at least- still "private" model of rubber fetishism. Similar arguments apply to the current wave of transvestism and pseudo-transvestism. An analysis of certain comic strips and television serials renders such tendencies even more clearly apparent. Both decorative art and the pop show business are showing signs of a trend towards an exchange of roles between the sexes; and ambisexual image valid for both sexes is now emerging.