The most favoured method of torture was the gégène, an army signals magneto from which electrodes could be fastened to various parts of the human body—notably the penis. It was simple and left no traces. Massu states that he, as well as other members of his staff, tried it out on himself in his own office; what he failed, however, to note in his “experiment” was the cumulative effect of prolonged application of the gégène, as well as of all deprivation of the element of hope—the essential concomitant of any torture.

QUESTION: The torture apologist angle (Massu 'testing' the device on himself) is chilling and worth tracing — did he really believe that made him qualified to judge its effects? XREF: The insight that hope deprivation is central to torture's power echoes Hannah Arendt on totalitarianism and psychological coercion — connects to theories of domination.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 593