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==Jacques Lacan==
==Catration of the motherMother==In the first time of the Oedipus complex, 'the mother is considered, by both sexes, as possessing the phallus, as the phallic mother' (E, 282). By promulgating the incest taboo in the second time, the imaginary father is seen to deprive her of this phallus. Lacan argues that properly speaking, this is not castration but privation. However, Lacan himself often uses these terms interchangeably, speaking both of the privation of the mother and of her castration.
==Castration of the Subject==
This is castration proper, in the sense of being a symbolic act which bears on an imaginary object.
Whereas the 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 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; 'Castration means that ''jouissance'' must be refused so that it can be reached on the inverted ladder (l'Èchelle renversè) of the [[Law]] of [[desire]].'<ref>E, 324</ref>
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, 282</ref>
On a more fundamental level, the term 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 complete and self-sufficient in herself, nor fully satisfied with her child (the subject himself), but desires something else.
This is the subject's first perception that the Other is not complete but lacking.
Both forms of castration (of the mother and of the subject) present the subject with a choice: to accept castration or to deny it.
Lacan argues that it is only by accepting (or 'assuming') castration that the subject can reach a degree of psychic normality.
In other words, the assumption of castration has a 'normalising effect'.
This normalising effect is to be understood in terms of both [[psychopatholog]]y (clinical structures and symptoms) and [[sexual identity]].
==Castration and Clinical Structures==
It is the refusal of castration that lies at the root of all psychopathological structures.
However, since it is impossible to accept 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.
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, 852</ref>
A more radical defence against castration than [[repression]] is [[disavowal]], which is at the root of the [[perversion|perverse]] [[structure]].
The [[psychotic]] takes the most extreme path of all; he completely repudiates castration, as if it had never existed.<ref>Sl, 53</ref>
This repudiation of symbolic castration leads to the return of castration in the real, such as in the form of [[hallucinations]] of dismemberment (as in the case of the [[Wolf Man]]) or even self-mutilation of the real genital organs.
==Castration and Sexual Identity==
It is only by assuming castration (in both senses) that the subject can take up a sexual position as a man or a woman (see [[sexual difference]].
The different modalities of refusing castration find expression in the various forms of [[perversion]].
