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The rape of the lock revisited

  • The Way We Live Now
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What mighty contests rise from trivial things.29 —Alexander Pope

Abstract

After a review of the significance of hair in history and legend, the author considers the impulses which lead young American males to wear long hair. He is more interested, however, in the reaction of adults and concludes that the projective response to long hair on an adolescent male is “the result of an intensive challenge to the success of repression by an adult of his own primitive drives, both aggressive and sexual.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Adult Outpatient Service, Nebraska Psychiatric Institute, University of Nebraska College of Medicine, 602 South 44th Avenue, 68105, Omaha, Nebraska

    David K. Kentsmith M.D. (Actign Clinical Director)

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  1. David K. Kentsmith M.D.
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Kentsmith, D.K. The rape of the lock revisited. Psych Quar 47, 571–585 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01572012

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