Other Characteristic Features and Psychodynamic Considerations

We have already discussed seduction, false abundance, egocentric generosity, and the denial of need. Now, let's look at other traits that are part of the personality of the Sexual 2.

Some of these traits originate from the difficulty in maintaining attacks on their idealized image. The person with this character struggles to recognize their mistakes; they are picky to the point of intransigence and dismissive when their pride is hurt; they can become despotic when they perceive the other slipping away from them.

Aggressive

The Sexual 2 finds it difficult to ask. They are unable to ask openly for fear of appearing human and not divine, so they allow themselves to be manipulated or adopt a demanding position. They push and invade, taking up more space than they deserve. They adopt a narcissistic sense of entitlement. The life strategy they engage in evokes the need for greater attention within their family of origin.

They are impulsive and have the motto: "Make love and make war." When they pursue a goal, they trample, not looking around or understanding much more than their desires, which they confuse with their true needs. Their aggression manifests in an impulsive drive for action. Like E8, they believe the end justifies the means, and the intensity of the action leads to emotional disconnection, which is sometimes mistaken for lust. All of this hides their difficulty in sustaining frustration, limits, or the "no" as an insurmountable barrier—a boundary that, when overstated, feels humiliating.

The person with this character can become violent, bold, and disdainful. In intimacy, once a certain threshold of frustration is reached, they react with indifference or abandon without much contemplation or suffering for too long. They quickly recover from the loss by seducing another candidate, thus covering up feelings of loss, frustration, and pain.

This attitude differs from the Social 2, which expresses aggression more intellectually, with arguments and explanations. It also differs from the Self-Preservation 2, where aggression is hidden under an infantile aura of tantrums and outbursts, more than as explicit violence, and may turn against themselves through the gestalt mechanism of retroflexion. This is something that is unlikely to be seen in a Sexual 2, who is fully capable of channeling all their impulses outward.

Hypersensitive

Pride is sustained by an inflated self-image that, at times, must be defended against the world. When confronted, criticized, or faced with even the slightest attack on this image, the proud reaction is quick. The volume of the response has little to do with the stimulus but instead relates to their hypersensitivity.

When a "arrow" pierces the ego defenses and hits the consciousness, revealing a lie or falsehood, hyperreactivity erupts, triggered by painful anxiety that cannot be sustained. Before allowing themselves to feel hurt, before recognizing the truth that would dismantle their ego construction, at the slightest scratch on their self-image, they automatically defend themselves by attacking. It is said that pride is an emotional state "easily wounded."

It is simply a reaction to an ancient and primary humiliation that hurt them as a child and left them unable to distinguish between having limits, being criticized, and being humiliated.

The "thin skin" can be either conscious or unconscious, depending on the degree of maturity. However, what distinguishes the Sexual 2 from the other subtypes is the "spontaneous" compulsiveness of the reaction, that automatic "freedom of expression" of the impulse.

Idolater of Desire

The passion of the Sexual 2 is to feel passion. Passion to be swept away and to drag others in the intensity of an idealized and genitalized love. Living the impulse gives them meaning and strength, so it is difficult for them to renounce any desire, especially the desire for love. Desire becomes an uninhibited drive that seeks immediate gratification, with whatever manipulative strategies are necessary. They are thus invasive, fickle, and impatient, pursuing that which they do not yet have but believe they deserve.

The most important desire is the desire to be loved and pleased, to be special in love. It is hard for a Sexual 2 to accept that what they most need is what they are least willing to give: learning to love. Their difficulty lies in loving, committed, and deep surrender.

They seek a type of love that serves a neurotic need that will never be fulfilled. What they lacked is what they now seek unconsciously, repeating a form of deficient love based on seduction and the place it provided them between their parents and in their family. The motor is filling the void, that painful feeling that tells them that not everything is so great or loving, which brushes against envy and threatens their entire ego structure.

Impulsive and Boundaryless

Someone so wild and impulsive needs freedom. There is a lack of limits, a pleasure in transgressing rules, in the name of feeling rather than thinking. As a Sexual 2 states: "For me, guidelines are simply orientative."

This character has a phobia of feeling limits imposed from the outside. The addiction to the emotional state of the moment gives them an air of freedom that could be confused with true spontaneity and, in reality, reflects a difficulty in renouncing the immediate gratification of the impulse. This is why they appear incongruent and irresponsible.

The Sexual 2 is used to getting what they want since childhood, as an echo of the oedipal situation where they gained a place of intimacy with the opposite-sex parent. A place that did not belong to them and was achieved through seduction—ambiguously induced by that same parent—while displacing the same-sex parent, with whom they generally have a conflictual relationship.

They are the wildest and freest of the 2s. Much more so than the Self-Preservation type, which adopts an infantile position in giving up much of their freedom to gain parental privileges, and has to be the "good child," leading to a greater loss of their free and spontaneous impulse.

Freedom—or rather, feeling "free"—is related to this lack of limits that was never set for them, or that came from excessive authority they seduced to overcome the fear of being crushed, of death.

Dependent

Apparent independence makes them raise a banner of freedom that they confuse with libertinism. But in reality, they are a hidden, disguised dependent; with an unconfessable dependence to themselves, as it would shatter their idealized image. They need the other to confirm them. And also that affectionate and carnal contact, where they get what they want.

By denying their lack, the reason someone might go to therapy is often a relationship crisis when they feel abandoned and the structure that supports their pride collapses.

Histrionic

The term "histrionic" is currently used to define the emotional performance of E2 character, especially the Sexual 2, who is a specialist in dramatizing emotions. They are also called "hysterical," in the sense of being intensely emotional and impulsive: the emotional goes far ahead of the rational, and they tend to "emotional outbursts." But "histrionic" is more precise and refers to their theatricality.

This emotional performance may have nothing to do with their deep motivations. It is simply a representation to get something else, while hiding the real need that triggered the energy mobilization. Often unconscious, because all motivation or sensation is related to a lack, something that doesn’t fit into their inflated self-image, which is then relegated to the unconscious through the primary mechanism of the 2: repression. While putting on scenes

is typical of the 2 in general, the theatrical, expansive, and aggressive capacity of the Sexual 2 makes them the most scandalous and shameless subtype.

Thus, histrionics are particularly evident in the Sexual 2. The more imprisoned by the shell of their character, the better actor they become in expressing affection in its various forms. They differ from the Self-Preservation and social types in the more free and shameless expression of passion. They can give themselves up to their effusions, to the point that they lack the words to express everything they feel, and their eyes, hands, or even their whole body are not enough to communicate their feelings: they want to pierce the other with their voice, their gaze, and the fire of passion.

The most impetuous personalities are even more capable of expressing rage and struggle, in an emotional catharsis like the one an actor experiences in a climactic scene. In seduction, they can reach the highest levels of creativity and expressive richness: feline rhythm, a dominating gaze that seeks to penetrate the other, a mixture of sweetness and strength, heat and instinct, a great freedom in physical contact, a natural disinhibition in exposing themselves, and all the expressions of eroticism that bring them immense pleasure.

Rebel and Transgressive

The Sexual 2 lives with the painful feeling of being a fraud, which makes them feel false and, therefore, guilty. One way to escape this is through disinhibition and transgression of social rules, not as a result of real autonomy in judgment and action, but as an expression of the neurotic need to stand out, in order to gain admiration from those they are interested in.

The Sexual subtype takes them to the realm of erotic-affective relationships, even triangular ones. They see themselves as bearers of new social rules through sexual freedom, with an exhibition of vitality and a sense of superiority regarding the more common relational bonds.

It’s not difficult for the Sexual 2 to become an advocate of libido triumphs, even with provocative and scandalous modalities for common sense, as a form of narcissistic self-satisfaction. They need to feel exalted by relationships where they imagine themselves at the center of the other’s desires, intensely affectionate, without which they would feel barren, empty, threatened by isolation, and dangerously sad. All of this with the fantasy that it is others who need their generous embrace, when in reality, it is they who need to feel continuously reassured about their worth.

Hedonistic

The Sexual 2 is a hedonist; their pursuit of pleasure serves the escape from pain and any potentially frustrating situation they cannot tolerate. "How can someone tell me no?" Or not respond to their need to be adored!

To avoid facing limits, they may entangle the other in a persistent promise of pleasure. These seduction games satisfy both the Sexual 2's hedonism and their need to break the routine with new experiences. As Claudio Naranjo points out, the desire for pleasure can be seen as a substitute for it; and E2, so in need of eliminating anything problematic, worrying, or ungratifying from their life, seeks it through love. Their low tolerance for frustration, when they don’t feel loved, leads them to states of anger or agitation, which in turn serves to break the much-feared routine.

Hedonism turns them into a consumer of relationships and objects, as they are indulgent toward their intense desire to give and receive pleasure.

Idealized Self-Image

The Sexual 2 has a grandiose and inflated self-image. Radiant and magnificent in fantasy, it is not grounded in reality through actions. It is a dream, but a contagious one, not only convincing themselves but also others. It is different from the narcissism of E3, whose image-selling is backed by titles, a full agenda of concrete tasks, hours at the gym, a large wardrobe, or excessive spending on cosmetics or cosmetic surgeries.

The image of a vampire, of a femme fatale, who needs to be liked and attracted, is the compensatory ideal of a childhood wound. And the energy invested in keeping that idealized image intact is what causes a disconnection from the depth of their being.

It is a theatrical image, a performance with all the attributes of a lie, made of intimate music in tone of voice, provocation in seductive gestures and clothing, and a suspiciously exaggerated capacity to give.

Inconsequent

In this discrepancy between reality and self-image, the Sexual 2 imagines themselves bigger, more generous, and more helpful than they are.

They live too much in the present to remember what they promised the day before yesterday. They tell you: "I’ll help you with this," or "You know you can count on me," or "I’ll support you in whatever you do." But when the moment arrives, the promise doesn’t translate into concrete actions. It is more of a feeling that existed at that moment, the result of an emotional impulse that sustains an image. And when the occasion arises, it’s not so much the service rendered.

Universal Giver

Someone who feels superior to others believes they have much to give in every sense. Someone who continually avoids pain and seeks pleasure through love cannot show that this very thing, love, is what they lack. On the contrary, they present themselves as a great giver of love.

As in this example:

"I see myself as a big chest, infinite, overflowing, available for anyone who needs it. Everything in a grand way, with abundant and varied options (better too much than too little; a little... is nothing, it's mischief). Or I see myself as a firefighter, putting out fires and emergencies (emotional or practical). Always with superpowers to give and give away."

— Enrique Pérez

Given the proud person's sense of superiority, their high principles about life, love, and relationships lead them to see themselves as a moral wonder, making them disregard the consequences of their actions and how reality truly is. But how do they transform their need for love into the ability to give love? As psychoanalyst Karen Horney says:

"Their need to be proud of themselves is so imperative that they cannot tolerate the idea of being at the mercy of blind needs; therefore, they use their imagination to turn their needs into virtues, to transform them into qualities to be proud of. But only compulsive needs that serve their tendency to bring their idealized image into reality undergo such transformation."

When structured as a character, their need for affection and to feel central transforms into giving love, into caring. In all this giving, one thought never leaves them: they expect others to recognize what they do for them. In their self-glorification, they focus more on what they will receive than on what they are doing for the other. It’s a constant doing to be seen by others, and with such a large self-worth that the recognition they expect never comes, leading to persistent frustration.

"I recognize that I've always tried very hard. Even now, I feel like I haven’t done enough, especially with my son. Sometimes I wish I could multiply myself. When I feel this way, everything I do for my son, my closest friends, my patients seems insufficient. Then I shake off this thought with a ‘That’s enough,’ but more reactively than with real acceptance of myself. I always end up trying to do this or that for others."

— Anonymous

This effort is a characteristic of the Sexual 2, helping them keep their head held high, thus dispelling the underground idea that they do not deserve their idealized inner counterpart.

Anti-intellectual

The Sexual 2 is the most emotional of the emotional types. The Sexual E4, also an expert in dramatic and intense emotional manifestations, does have a more intellectual component because they need argumentation to exert competence. In the Sexual 2, the irrefutable argument is their emotion: things are a certain way "because I feel that way." This is their assertiveness, based more on feeling than cognition, and in their uninhibited impulse, it provides a false sense of security and the arrogance of being able to get everything.

Their perception of reality is thus more based on feeling than on an objective view of facts; the emotion clouds the present moment, and in the name of emotion, anything goes. They identify passionately with their emotion and disengage from the logical and structured world of thought, which they find heavy and dry.

"I’ve always had trouble remembering the lyrics to songs; on the other hand, I remember the melodies. They propel me into a world of images and fantasy. I often remember the parallel world created by my mind, which originates in the music more than in the lyrics themselves. The chorus gives me the beginning, and from there, I fly into my fantastic world sustained by the notes."

— Toni Aguilar

Cognitive or intellectual capacity is devalued in all E2s. It is true that it’s less so in Social 2s, who create an image of being responsible, serious, and hyper-adult. The Self-Preservation types, very identified with basic needs, are most interested in concrete actions to get what they need. The Sexual 2 also feels more than thinks and values the emotional and sentimental world much more than the cognitive.

This attitude is at the origin of their main defense mechanism: repression.

Competitive

The competition ground for the Sexual 2 is mainly the romantic relationship. Their struggle to feel unique and unforgettable becomes hard when a third party appears and threatens to overshadow them. In that case, they may return to a passionate, infatuated energy, even if it's unclear whether they truly care about the object of their competition. They don’t ask themselves if they truly care for the lover or friend, because their interest lies in beating the competitor to feel the best in someone’s eyes. They feel their passion again and believe it, but once they have captured their prey, it may lose its value.

Non-conventional

The gestures of the Sexual 2 are open, informal, and relaxed. They seem spontaneous and feel at home everywhere, both in their attire and in their behaviors, as they love to break norms and be different from everyone else at all costs. They are capable of taking off their shoes, putting their feet on the sofa, showing a scar in public, doing in public what others would only do in private, such as exposing an intimate part, or sleeping during a meeting, ignoring social conventions. They want to do "what I want, where I want, with whom I want." They are, therefore, provocateurs, softened by their seductive strategies and the fear of being rejected.

Erotic Movements

The body of the proud personality was described by Wilhelm Reich in Character Analysis. Their most striking characteristic is an evident sexual behavior, combined with a specific type of agility, marked by soft and sexually provocative movements. The overall impression is one of an evident sexual tone. In the typical case, the movements convey excitability.

The body movements of the Sexual 2 reflect graceful and sensual movements of a body with few deep muscular blockages. Their body structure is well-energized, forming well-proportioned and harmonious bodies. They seem integrated and connected, conveying a sense of activity, liveliness, and agility. The energy reaches the more distal parts of the body, giving the skin a warm and rosy appearance. The gaze, lively and bright, will indicate the emotional state of the person, a trait they share with other rigid characters of the bioenergetic classification.

More specific to the Sexual 2 is the muscular armor in the form of "chainmail," a form of defense they share with the E8, which involves a systematic and general rigidity. This "mesh," distributed just beneath the skin at the fascia level, is an efficient mechanism for draining anxiety, as it redistributes scarce energy throughout the body's surface. In the old art of war, chainmail was an armor made of iron or steel rings interwoven in such a way that the energy of any blow dissipated through all the rings; ultimately, it was an effective formula for absorbing impacts and minimizing damage.

This defensive bodily mechanism is activated when anxiety is imminent, as described by this woman: "I couldn’t stop moving; I felt an energy running through my entire body, it was carrying me, moving me without going anywhere, like a caged animal. My mother told me I was hysterical, but I couldn’t do anything." When I stopped, I felt a strong emotion in my chest, a very unpleasant sensation, and I began crying uncontrollably.

— Anonymous

We see in the testimony how the failure of the muscular defense leads to the emergence of anxiety and, in this case, the emotion that was holding it back.

This efficient drainage means that the Sexual 2 rarely experiences anxiety. It is converted into soft, undulating movements, loaded erotically, which often confuse the interlocutor, who receives a double message: on one hand, a provocation; on the other, a lack of intentionality in the movement, which remains detached from the awareness of its real purpose. Their erotic, seductive movement provokes sexual reactions.

As Reich says:

"When a hysterical woman makes particularly active sexual proposals, it is wrong to assume that it is genuine sexual readiness [...] The hysterical character always ignores the meaning of her sexual behavior [...] What appears to be a sexual impulse is sexuality functioning as a defense."

This sensual, undulating movement, provided by the muscular defense in "chainmail," allows a differential diagnosis with other characters who do not possess this agility and mobility.

Apparent Loose Hips

Juanjo Albert, discussing the hysterical character (E2), states:

"The defensive function of pseudo-erotic contact and genital sexuality is carried out through its specialization and ability to detect the risk of commitment and emotional surrender, and to immediately withdraw when this happens."

The most extreme version of the walk of a Sexual 2 is the vivid image of the femme fatale, whose seduction is transmitted not only through their sinuous and exaggerated movements but also through their tone of voice, the emphasis in their phrasing, their captivating gaze, explicit voluptuousness, and hip swaying, suggesting a promise of orgasm without guarantee.

This typical swaying, as well as the retracted position of the hips, might signify health and connection with sexuality, but in reality, it does not. The "loaded pelvis" of E2 is energetically prepared to express strength through orgasm, but the release movements are limited by their rigidity, with a reduced range of pelvis movement.

Disconnected Affection from Sexuality

The apparent freedom and ease in their hips hide the main conflict of this character. This movement is not fully connected to the chest, due to one of their primary tensions in the diaphragm. The diaphragm, being the most active muscle in breathing, also plays a role in perceiving and expressing the emotional world. Responsible for increasing or decreasing the signal perceived in the chest, it either facilitates or blocks the passage of impulses coming from both the abdomen and the hips—i.e., from the world of needs and sexuality.

In this character, the diaphragm is contracted enough to compromise the energetic connection between the hips and the chest. The diaphragmatic contraction dissociates affection from needs, disconnecting the emotional world from sexuality. We cannot talk about diaphragmatic blockage in a character with emotional connection and expression, but there is a tension that hinders the flow of energy.

Difficulty in Surrender

It can be said, when observing the tensions and blockages in the body of the Sexual 2, that there is a difficulty in deep, loving surrender, and this is its most significant split.

As Lowen says, “The hysterical character of today does not fear genital contact as much as deep loving feelings.” This is why tantric practice, bioenergetics, integrative body therapy, psychodance, or any other body technique whose goal is the union of the genital impulse with the loving impulse holds great healing potential for this character.

Joyful

In comparison to the other subtypes of the pride passion, the Sexual 2 presents a more expansive, satisfied, and joyful outlook. This differentiates them from the Social 2, whose expression is less ecstatic, somewhat more serious and rigid, due to the overwhelming sense of importance they feel.

This same joy and smile of the Sexual 2 are accompanied, in the Self-Preservation subtype, by a childlike gaze and face, which often makes them seem younger than they are.

Spender

Money provides this character with an autonomy they find crucial. Here, too, the Sexual 2 trusts their own resources: showing their economic needs humbles them, and their independence is more a gesture of pride than of inner freedom.

"I’ve been working since I was fifteen; in the summer. Economic independence is essential for me. I can live with little; I can eat bread and tomato or bring lobster to the table if I feel like it."

— Anonymous

"I’m quite a spender. I don’t have much money to spare. I don’t care about branded clothes or certain types of items, but I spend and I don’t even know how I do it. Money itself hasn’t been important to me, it doesn’t represent a criterion for decision-making. Even in sentimental relationships, I don’t care if a man has money or not. I need to show that I am autonomous, not just be autonomous. It’s a power thing in the relationship, it’s hard for me to accept a man paying for me. It diminishes me, and I have to reciprocate as soon as possible. It’s like this: I have difficulty receiving."

— Anonymous

"I’ve had a painful relationship with money since childhood, due to my father’s financial struggles and the creditors who pursued us. I felt the need to start working at a young age: at fifteen, I stopped studying, even though I liked it a lot, but I couldn’t burden my family. It also has to do with ‘not feeling worthy.’ I didn’t tell my parents the real reason, it would have humiliated them; instead, I invented that I didn’t want to study."

— Anonymous

"There was a period when my father helped me a lot, with my children and beyond. This gave me an opportunity to have a grandeur that I wouldn’t have been able to have with my own means. I liked being able to spend to buy beautiful gifts or to enjoy pleasant activities. According to my father, I wasn’t living properly. When, to control me, he said, 'Then I’ll cut off your food,' the wave of pride was so strong that for years I didn’t take even five hundred lira, and I started working seriously and never asked for anything again. It was a cold shower, but also very useful."

— Anonymous

The economic resources are subordinated to the emotional needs and the need for intimate contact. The Sexual 2 shows disregard for saving or owning goods. It may have to do with an underlying arrogance and the need for immediate satisfaction from the intensity of the moment. They tend to spend what they earn, but more on others than on themselves. They may not check their accounts, not know how much they earn, or fail to recover loans given.

"I’m not at all organized with money. I don’t know how much I earn, only roughly, I don’t check my bank statements, and in fact, I’m in the red! Today I feel much less generous than before. Sometimes I wonder why I’m giving a gift, and most of the time, for the sake of consistency, I have to refrain from spending. But when I want to impress, I’m capable of making a very striking gesture to seduce the person I’m interested in."

— Anonymous

The Power of Money

The power the Sexual 2 gives to money, then, is to be at the service of meaningful relationships, in order to receive affection and admiration in return. The way to obtain this goes from generously providing for the desires of children to giving wonderful gifts to a partner or friends, making them feel great and making the other feel like the center of attention. They may risk their own survival to follow a romantic ideal of generosity that prevails over all other considerations.

"When I was thirty-three, I unquestioningly quit my job at the hospital and sold the house I had to live the adventure of cohabiting with three, working together. I felt elated and very passionate. When everything fell apart, I was left with no savings and a very small daughter. It was a deep fall for me. But from that point, I got up with a new consciousness and recovered my job as a doctor elsewhere."

— Alba Chartroux

"Working with my husband, we went bankrupt. After my marriage ended, I had nothing, I hadn’t protected myself at all. It was very difficult to face the needs of my daughters. Realizing that I had put them in the same deprivation conditions I had lived through gave me the strength to recover financially. Anyway, I’m always on the edge and I go into anxiety when there are particular expenses to face; I tend to fall into the humiliation of not achieving it. I tend to spend beyond my means."

— Anonymous

For the Sexual 2, hunger for love leads them to experience more pleasure in giving and spending than in retaining or possessing. For them, the pride of "giving" is an overcompensation for the lack, for the painful feeling of worthlessness. This is what leads them to overact. Under the mask of abundance, the figure of the miserable beggar manifests through the ghost of falling. It is precisely this figure that leads to excessive self-sacrifice: if they don’t feel they deserve love for themselves, they ensure they at least deserve it for the services they’ve rendered.

Fear of Failure

In their relationship dynamics, where they are the ones who give and not receive, the Sexual 2 struggles to imagine that anyone could take care of them if needed. From their pride, they can demand but not ask, as a refusal would hurt them deeply. This, along with the need for freedom and autonomy, feeds the ghost of failure, because they imagine that if they are not able to give, they won’t have a place in the world, they will be alone.

"I’ve always carried an inner counter-image of myself as a failure: a beggar, alcoholic, suicidal, or something like that."

— Alba Chartroux

"I too have lived with an imaginary counter-figure of the type prostitute, beggar, drug addict."

— Anonymous

"As a child, I lived through my parents’ desperation of having seven children and not being able to serve a plate at the table. For me, the idea of ending up living under a bridge doesn’t scare me. The real problem is seeing the people you love hit rock bottom, fail; it’s terrible helplessness. This is what has shaped my ambivalent relationship with money: I want it because it serves, but it disgusts me because it has made my life unhappy for not having it."

— Anonymous