Don Juanism is a non-technical psychological descriptive term for a man who has a desire to have sex with many different partners and who may be a "seducer of women." The name is derived from the legendary Don Juan of opera and fiction, who seems in turn to have been patterned after an historical person, the Spanish noble Don Juan Tenorio. The psychological disorder, satyriasis, is sometimes considered to be synonymous with Don Juanism. It has been argued [1] that satyriasis is the term applying to males exhibiting the same condition called nymphomania (L. furor uterinus) in female behavior. If this is so, "Don Juanism" is for males the equivalent term for "nymphomania" in females. Historian Carol Groneman has demonstrated that these terms no longer apply with any accuracy as psychological or legal categories of psychological disorder.
Psychologist Carl Jung believed that Don Juanism was an unconscious desire of a man to seek his mother in every woman he encountered. However, he didn't see the trait as entirely negative; Jung felt that positive aspects of Don Juanism included heroism, perseverance and strength of will. This aspect of the character is examined by Mozart and his librettist Da Ponte in their opera Don Giovanni, perhaps the best-known artistic work on this subject. To write their opera, Mozart and Da Ponte are known to have consulted with the famous libertine, Giacomo Casanova, the usual historic example of Don Juanism. Casanova attended the premiere of this opera, which was probably understood by the audience to be about himself. In a famous passage the philosopher Kierkegaard discusses Mozart's version of the Don Juan story. Albert Camus has also written on the subject.
See Also:
Free Love
Casanova
Kierkegaard Either/Or
