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[[Freud]] often employs metaphors from the [[science]] of hydraulics to describe [[libido]].
[[Freud]] conceives of the [[libido]] as an "economic" concept.
It is said to be quantifiable, plastic and adhesive, and can be attached to or withdrawn from [[object]]s thanks to the mechanism of [[cathexis]].
It is an energy which can increase or descrease, and which can be displaced.<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. [[SE]] XVIII. 1921c. p.90.</ref>
It can be desexualized or used in [[sublimation]].
===Sexual Desire===
[[Libido]] is a specifically sexual energy.
[[Libido]] is also described by [[Freud ]] as being [[active ]] and [[masculine]].
Throughout his work, [[Freud]] maintained a dualism in which the [[libido]] is opposed to another (non-sexual) form of energy.
==Jacques Lacan==
[[Lacan]] uses the term '"[[libido' ]]" very sparingly, and tends to discuss sexuality in terms of [[desire]] and ''[[jouissance]]''.
In general [[Lacan]] does not use the term "[[libido]]" anywhere near as frequently as [[Freud]], preferring to reconceptualize sexual energy in terms of ''[[jouissance]]''.
