The Pleasures Of Penny

At the age of twenty-four, Penny was bored. She was bored with her job, her home life, and even the men she knew. She was looking for adventure and a more exciting kind of male companion. She thought she saw such a male in Paul Lagarde, who had a reputation as one of the world's greatest lovers. Unfortunately for Penny, what Paul really turned out to be was a manipulative man. What is a manipulative man? The subject is discussed at length by Ben Bursten, M.D., in an article entitled “Manipulative Men: Their Sexual Attitudes,” published in the April, 1973, issue of Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality. Dr. Bursten is chief of the Psychiatry Section of the Veterans Administration Hospital in West Haven, Connecticut, and associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. Among other things, he says: “The manipulative personality is incapable of sincere love and affection. This feature is basic to his need to have relationships where he can put things over on other people. We psychoanalysts refer to this basic personality orientation as narcissistic. Narcissistic people relate to others largely as extensions of themselves. They tend to over-idealize others as sources of immense power which will rub off on them. When reality sets in and the other person proves disappointing, they become furious and they devalue and discard him. At other times, narcissists look to others for reflections of their own glory. They are vain people, ever in need of admiration.