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{{Top}}rapport sexuel{{Bottom}}
==Jacques Lacan==
===There is No Relation Between the Sexes===
[[Lacan]] first proposes his famous formula: ''il n'y a pas de rapport sexuel'' in 1970,<ref>{{L}} ''[[Seminar XVII|Le Séminaire. Livre XVII. L'envers de la psychanalyse, 1969-70]]''. Ed. [[Jacques-Alain Miller]]. Paris: Seuil, 1991: 134</ref> and takes it up again in his [[seminar]] of 1972-3.<ref>{{S20}} p. 17</ref>
This formula is usually translated into English as "There is no such thing as a sexual relationship", which is misleading since [[Lacan]] is certainly not denying that people have sex!
The formula might be better rendered "There is no relation between the sexes", thus emphasizing that it is not primarily the [[act]] of '''sexual intercourse''' that [[Lacan]] is referring to but the question of the relation between the [[sexual difference|masculine sexual position ]] and the [[sexual difference|feminine sexual position]].
===Sexual Difference===The formula thus condenses a number of points in [[Lacan]]'s approach to the question of [[sexual difference]]:
====Other of Langage====1. There is no direct, unmediated relation between the [[sexual difference|male ]] and [[sexual difference|female sexual position]], because the [[Other]] of [[language]] stands between them as a third party.<ref>{{S20}} p. 64</ref>
<blockquote>"Between male and female human beings there is no such thing as an instinctive relationship' because all sexuality is marked by the signifier."<ref>{{L}} l975b</ref>
One consequence of this is that it is not possible to define [[perversion ]] by reference to a supposedly [[nature|natural form ]] of the [[sexual relationship ]] (as [[Freud ]] did).
Heterosexuality is thus not natural but normative.<ref>{{Ec}} p. 223</ref>
====Asymmetry====
2. There is no reciprocity or symmetry between the [[sexual difference|male]] and [[sexual difference|female sexual positions]] because the [[symbolic order]] is fundamentally asymmetrical; there is no corresponding [[signifier]] which could signify [[Woman]] in the same way that the [[sexual difference|male]] [[sex]] is [[symbolize]]d.
There is thus no [[symbol]] for a symmetrical [[sexual relationship]]: "the sexual relationship cannot be written."<ref>{{S20}} p. 35</ref>
3. Relations between men and women can never be harmonious; "The most naked rivalry between men and women is eternal."<ref>{{S2}} p. 263</ref>
[[Love]] is no more than an [[illusion]] designed to make up for the [[absence]] of harmonious relations between the sexes [[sex]]es (whether presented in mythical terms, as in [[Plato]]'s [[Symposium]], or in psychoanalytic terms, as in Balint's concept of [[love|genital love]]).
====Drives====
4. The [[drive|sexual drives]] are directed not towards a "whole person" but towards [[part-object]]s.
For the man, the [[objet (petit) a|object a]] occupies the place of the missing partner, which produces the [[matheme]] of [[fantasy]] (SOa); in other words, the [[Woman]] does not [[exist]] for the man as a [[real]] [[subject]], but only as a [[fantasy]] [[object]], the [[cause]] of his [[desire]].<ref>{{S20}} p. 58</ref>
====Woman and Mother====
5. [[Woman]] cannot function sexually qua [[Woman]] but only qua [[mother]]; "[[Woman]] begins to function in the sexual relationship only as mother."<ref>{{S20}} p. 36</ref>
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Desire]]
* [[Drive]]
* [[Existence]]
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* [[Fantasy]]
* [[Language]]
* [[Love]]
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* [[Mother]]
* [[Part Object]]
* [[Perversion]]
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* [[Phallus]]
* [[Sexual difference]]
* [[Signifier]]
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* [[Symbol]]
* [[Symbolic]]
* [[Woman]]
{{Also}}
==References==
<references/>
