Les exhibitionnistes, ces grands inhibés

Sexual exhibitionism is a form of human behavior that surprises and challenges us. The French criminal code punishes this offence in the section devoted to sexual aggressions. It is indeed a hetero-aggressive action without direct contact with the victim. In the eyes of the public, the perpetrator of such aggressions is often mocked or seen as “crazy”. In profiling the personality of an exhibitionist or of this particular behavior itself, a very different structure appears, where the scopic functions used (show something off to be seen), result from a common characteristic in all these individuals: inhibition. By realizing this and taking it into account, we can improve prevention at both a primary level (education) and secondary level (management to avoid repeat offences).