24,656
edits
Changes
no edit summary
However, whereas Freud argues that these two complexes are articulated differently in boys and girls, Lacan argues that the castration complex always denotes the final moment of the Oedipus complex in both sexes.
Lacan divides the Oedipus complex into three 'times'.<ref>{{LS5}} Lacan, 1957-8: ; seminar of 22 January 1958</ref>
# In the first time, the child perceives that the [[mother]] desires 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 but [[privation]].
# 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>
===Two Operations===
====Castration of the Mother====
In the first time of the Oedipus complex, '"the mother is considered, by both sexes, as possessing the phallus, as the phallic mother' (."<ref>{{E, }} p.282). </ref> 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====
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 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, }} p.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.
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.
===Normalizing Effect===
====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, }} p.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>{{S1, }} 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]].
