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==Lacan on Sexual Difference==
Following [[Freud]], [[Lacan]] also engages with the problem of how the human infant becomes a [[sexed subject]].
For [[Lacan]], [[masculinity]] and [[femininity]] are not [[biological]] essences but [[symbolic position]]s, and the assumption of one of these two positions is fundamental to the construction of [[[subjectivity]]; the [[subject]] is essentially a [[sexed subject]].
"[[Man]]" and "[[woman]]" are [[signifier]]s that stand for these two [[subjective position]]s.<ref>{{S20}} p.34</ref>
==Becoming a Sexed Subject==
For both [[Freud]] and [[Lacan]], the child is at first ignorant of [[sexual difference]] and so cannot take up a [[sexual position]].
It is only when the child discovers [[sexual difference]] in the [[castration complex]] that he can begin to take up a [[sexual position]].
Both [[Freud]] and [[Lacan]] see this process of taking up a sexual position as closely connected with the [[Oedipus complex]], but they differ on the precise nature of the connection.
For [[Freud]], the [[subject]]'s [[sexual position]] is determined by the sex of the parent with whom the [[subject]] [[identifies]] in the [[Oedipus complex]] (if the [[subject]] [[identifies]] with the [[father]], he takes up a [[masculine]] [[position]]; [[identification]] with the [[mother]] entails the assumption of a [[feminine]] [[position]]).
For [[Lacan]], however, the [[Oedipus complex]] always involves a [[symbolic]] [[identification]] with the [[Father]], and hence [[Oedipus]] [[identification]] cannot determine [[sexual position]].
According to [[Lacan]], then, it is not [[identification]] but the [[subject]]'s relationship with the [[phallus]] which determines [[sexual position]].
==="Having" or "Not Having" the Phallus===
This relationship can either be one of "having" or "not having"; [[men]] have the [[symbolic]] [[phallus]], and [[women]] don't (or, to be more precise, [[men]] are "not without having it" [''ils ne sont pas sans l'avoir'']).
The assumption of a sexual position is fundamental a symbolic act, and the difference between the sexes can only be conceived of on the symbolic plane.<ref>{{S4}} p.153</ref>
<blockquote>It is insofar as the function of man and woman is symbolized, it is insofar as it's literally uprooted from the domain of the imaginary and situated in the domain of the symbolic, that any normal, completed sexual position is realized.<ref>{{S3}} p.177</ref></blockquote>
==See Also==
* [[Gender identity]]
* [[Oedipus complex]]
* [[Phallus]]
* [[Sexuality]]
* [[Sexual Relationship]]
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Sexuality]]
[[Category:New]]
[[Category:Sexuality]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
