Madonna-Whore Complex
"Heresy in an age of Modern Love:
I adore the Virgin, and I worship her deeply.
Yet I lust uncontrollably for the sinner."
~Dr. Charles Foster to E.C. Valentine
In Freudian psychology, the Madonna-Whore Complex is a psychological complex that develops in human males. It is characterized by a man associating the maternal traits of his mother to his wife, hoping to fulfill an intimacy felt (or wished to be felt) from pre-pubescence childhood. Thus, the Madonna-like image and sexual attraction towards her become mutually exclusive to him; romance and sex become incompatible. He associates love, compassion, kindness and piety with her, and reserves sex for "dirty", "filthy" women whom he cannot ever develop intimacy for.