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The consequences of this new [[Freudcastration complex|infantile theory]] first describes are different in the [[castration complexboy]] and in 1908the [[girl]].

The [[child]] -- on discovering the [[biology|anatomical]] [[sexual difference|difference between the sexes]] -- the [[presence]] or [[absense]] of the [[penisboy]] -- makes the assumption fears that this [[sexual difference|difference]] is due to the [[female]]'s his own [[penis]] having been will be cut off.<ref>{{F}} "On by the Sexual Theories of Children. 1908. [[SEfather]] IX. p.207</ref>  In his view, the ([[castration complex]] is the moment when one "infantile theory" -- that every [[humananxiety]] ), while the [[beinggirl]] has a sees herself as already castrated (by the [[penismother]] -- is replaced ) and attempts to deny this or to compensate for it by seeking a new one -- that [[femalechild]]s have been [[castrated]].   The consequences of this new infantile theory are different in as a substitute for the [[boypenis]] and in the ([[girlpenis envy]]).

===Phallic Phase===The [[boycastration complex]] fears that his own affects both [[penissex]] will be cut off by es because its appearance is closely linked with the [[father]] ([[castrationcomplex|phallic phase]] , a moment of [[anxietydevelopment|psychosexual development]]), while when the [[girlchild]] sees herself as already castrated (by the , whether [[motherboy]]) and attempts to deny this or to compensate for it by seeking a [[childgirl]] as a substitute for the , knows only one [[penis|genital organ]] (- the [[penis envymale]])one.

Freud argued that the castration complex is closely linked to the [[Oedipus Complex]], but that its role in the Oedipus complex is different for the boy and the girl.   The [[castration complex]] is closely linked to the [[Oedipus complex]]. Its role in the [[Oedipus complex]] is different for the [[boy]] and the [[girl]]. ====Boy==== In the case of the [[boy]] The , the [[castration complex]] is the point of exit from the [[Oedipus complex]] -- , its terminal crisis. Because ; because of his [[fear]] of [[castration]] -- often aroused by a [[fear|threat ]] -- the [[boy]] renounces his [[desire]] for the [[mother]] -- and thus enters the [[development|latency period]]. ====Girl==== In the case of the [[girl]],  the [[castration complex]] is the point of entry into the [[Oedipus complex]].

===Girl===In the case of the [[girl]], the [[castration complex]] is the point of entry into the [[Oedipus complex]]; it is her resentment of the [[mother]], whom she blames for depriving her of the [[penis]], that causes her to redirect her [[libido|libidinal]] desires [[desire]]s away from the [[mother]] and onto the [[father]].

Because of this [[sexual difference|difference]], in the case of the [[girl]] the [[Oedipus complex]] has no definitive terminal crisis comparable to the [[boy]]'s.<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Dissolution of the Oedipus Complex.]]," 1924. [[SE ]] XIX p.173</ref>

===ConclusionTreatment===[[Freud ]] came to see the [[castration complex ]] as a universal phenomenon, one which is rooted in a basic '"rejection of femininity" ('' (Ablehnung der Weiblich-keit'').

It is encountered in every [[subject]], and represents the ultimate limit beyond which [[psychoanalytic treatment ]] cannot go.<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Analysis Terminable and Interminable.]]," 1937. [[SE ]] XXIII. p.211</ref>

[[Lacan]] -- who talks more often about "[[castration]]'" than the "[[castration complex]]" -- does not discuss the [[castration complex]] very much in his early work.  He dedicates a few paragraphs to it in his article on the [[family]], where he follows [[Freud]] in stating that [[castration]] is first and foremost a [[fantasy]] of the mutilation of the [[penis]].  [[Lacan]] links this [[fantasy]] with a whole series of fantasies of bodily dismemberment which originate in the [[image]] of the [[fragmented body]]; this image is contemporary with the [[mirror stage]] (six to eighteen months), and it is only much later that these fantasies of dismemberment coalesce around the specific fantasy of castration.<ref>{{L}} 1938. p.44</ref>

It is not until the mid-1950s that the castration complex comes to play a prominent role in Lacan's teaching, primarily in [[the seminar ===Symbolic Lack of 1956-7]]. an Imaginary Object===

It is in this seminar not until the mid-1950s that Lacan identifies castration as one of three forms of 'the [[lackcastration complex]] of comes to play a prominent role in [[objectLacan]]', the others being s [[frustrationseminars|teaching]] and , primarily in [[privationthe seminar of 1956-7]].

Unlike [[frustration (]] -- which is an [[imaginary ]] [[lack ]] of a [[real ]] [[object) ]] -- and [[privation (]] -- which is a [[real ]] [[lack ]] of a [[symbolic ]] [[object)]], [[castration complex|castration]] is defined by [[Lacan ]] as a [[symbolic]] [[lack ]] of an [[imaginary ]] [[object]]; [[castration complex|castration ]] does not bear on the [[penis ]] as a [[real ]] [[biology|organ]], but on the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]].<ref>{{S4}} p.219</ref>

[[Lacan]]'s account of the [[castration complex ]] is thus raised out of the dimension of simple [[biology]] or [[biology|anatomy]]: 'It is insoluble by any reduction to biological givens.'<ref>{{E}} p.282</ref>

===Oedipus Complex==Following [[Freud]], [[Lacan ]] argues that the [[castration complex ]] is the pivot on which the whole [[Oedipus complex ]] turns.<ref>{{S4}} p.216</ref>

However, whereas [[Freud ]] argues that these two complexes [[complex]]es are articulated differently in boys [[boy]]s and girls[[girl]]s, [[Lacan ]] argues that the [[castration complex ]] always denotes the final moment of the [[Oedipus complex ]] in both sexes.

===Three Times===[[Lacan ]] divides the [[Oedipus complex ]] into three '"[[Oedipus complex|times']]".<ref>{{S5}}; seminar [[Seminar]] of 22 January 1958</ref>

# In the first time, the [[child ]] perceives that the [[mother]] desires [[desire]]s something beyond the [[child ]] himself - namely, the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] -- and then tries to be the [[phallus ]] for the [[mother ]] (see [[preoedipal phase]]).

# In the second time, the [[imaginary]] [[father]] intervenes to deprive the [[mother ]] of her [[object ]] by promulgating the [[incest taboo]]; properly speaking, this is not [[castration complex|castration ]] but [[privation]].

# [[castration complex|Castration ]] is only realised in the third and final time, which represents the '"dissolution' " of the [[Oedipus complex]].

It is then that the [[real]] [[father]] intervenes by showing that he really posesses the [[phallus]], in such a way that the [[child ]] is forced to abandon his attempts to be the [[phallus]].<ref>{{S4}} p.208-9, 227</ref>

From this account of the [[Oedipus complex]], it is clear that  [[Lacan]] uses the term "[[castration]]" to refer to two different operations.

 [[Lacan]] often uses the term "[[castration complex|castration]]" to speak of the [[castration complex|castration]] -- or, more precisely, the "[[privation]]" -- of the [[mother]].

(However, [[Lacan]] himself often uses these terms interchangeably, speaking both of the [[privation]] of the [[mother]] and of her [[castration complex|castration]].)

This is [[castration complex|castration]] proper, in the sense of being a [[symbolic ]] [[act ]] which bears on an [[imaginary ]] [[object]].  Whereas the [[castration complex|castration]]/[[privation]] of the [[mother]] which comes about in the second time of the [[Oedipus complex]] negates the verb "to have" -- the [[mother]] does not have the [[phallus]], the [[castration complex|castration]] of the [[subject]] in the third time of the [[Oedipus complex]] negates the verb "to be" -- the [[subject]] must renounce his attempts to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]].  In renouncing his attempts to be the [[object]] of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], the [[subject]] gives up a certain ''[[jouissance]]'' which is never regained despite all attempts to do so:

Whereas the castration/privation of the mother which comes about in the second time of the Oedipus complex negates the verb <blockquote>"Castration means that 'to have' (the mother does not have the phallus), the castration of the subject in the third time of the Oedipus complex negates the verb jouissance'to be' (the subject must renounce his attempts to be refused so that it can be reached on the phallus for inverted ladder (''l'èchelle renversè'') of the mother)[[Law]] of [[desire]]."<ref>{{E}} p. 324</ref>

In renouncing his attempts This applies equally to be the object of the mother's desire, the subject gives up a certain ''[[jouissanceboy]]'' which is never regained despite all attempts to do so; 'Castration means that ''jouissance'' must be refused so that it can be reached on the inverted ladder (''l'èchelle renversè'') of the s and [[Lawgirl]] of [[desire]].'<ref>{{E}} 324</ref>s:

<blockquote>"[This applies equally to boys and girls: this '] relationship to the phallus . . . is established without regard to the anatomical difference of the sexes.'"<ref>{{E}} p.282</ref></blockquote>

===Lack of the Mother===On a more fundamental level, the term [[castration complex|castration ]] may also refer not to an '"operation' (" -- the result of an intervention by the [[imaginary ]] or [[real ]] [[father) ]] -- but to a state of [[lack ]] which already exists in the [[mother ]] prior to the [[subject]]'s birth.

This [[lack ]] is evident in her own [[desire]], which the [[subject ]] perceives as a [[desire ]] for the [[imaginary ]] [[phallus]].

That is, the [[subject ]] realises at a very early stage that the [[mother ]] is not [[lack|complete ]] and [[autonomy|self-sufficient ]] in herself, nor fully [[satisfied ]] with her [[child ]] (the [[subject ]] himself), but desires [[desire]]s something else.

This is the [[subject]]'s first perception that the [[Other ]] is not [[lack|complete ]] but lacking[[lack]]ing.

Both forms of [[castration complex|castration]] (of the [[mother ]] and of the [[subject]]) present the [[subject ]] with a choice: to accept [[castration complex|castration]] or to deny it.  [[Lacan]] argues that it is only by accepting (or "assuming") [[castration complex|castration]] that the [[subject]] can reach a degree of psychic normality.

Lacan argues that it is only by accepting (or 'assuming') In other words, the assumption of [[castration that the subject can reach complex|castration]] has a degree of psychic normality"normalising effect".

In other words, the assumption of castration has a 'normalising effect'. This normalising effect is to be understood in terms of both [[psychopathology]] (clinical structures [[clinic]]al [[structure]]s and symptoms[[symptom]]s) and [[sexual identity]].

It is the refusal of [[castration complex|castration]] that lies at the root of all [[neurosis|psychopathological structures]] [[structure]]s.

However, since it is impossible to accept [[castration complex|castration]] entirely, a completely '"normal' " position is never achieved.

The closest to such a position is the [[neurosis|neurotic]] [[structure]], but even here the [[subject ]] still defends himself against the [[lack ]] in the [[Other]] by repressing awareness of [[castration complex|castration]].

This prevents the [[neurotic ]] from fully assuming his [[desire]], since '"it is the assumption of castration that creates the lack upon which desire is instituted.'"<ref>{{Ec}} p.852</ref>

=====Perversion=====A more radical [[defence ]] against [[castration complex|castration]] than [[repression]] is [[disavowal]], which is at the root of the [[perversion|perverse]] [[structure]].

=====Psychosis=====The [[psychotic]] takes the most extreme path of all; he completely repudiates [[castrationcomplex|castration]], as if it had never existed.<ref>{{S1}} 53</ref>

This repudiation of [[castration complex|symbolic castration ]] leads to the return of [[castration complex|castration ]] in the [[real]], such as in the form of [[hallucinations]] of [[fragmented body|dismemberment ]] (as in the case of the [[Wolf Man]]) or even self-mutilation of the [[real ]] [[genital|genital organsorgan]]s.

It is only by assuming [[castration complex|castration ]] (in both senses) that the [[subject ]] can take up a [[sexual difference|sexual position ]] as a [[man ]] or a woman (see [[sexual differencewoman]].

The different modalities of refusing [[castration complex|castration]] find expression in the various forms of [[perversion]].

[[Category:TermsSexuality]][[Category:DictionaryDevelopment]]

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