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==Sigmund Freud==

===Sexual Difference===

[[Freud]] first described the [[castration complex]] in 1908, arguing that the [[child]] -- on discovering the [[biology|anatomical]] [[sexual difference|difference between the sexes]] -- the [[presence]] or [[absence]] of the [[penis]] -- makes the assumption that this [[sexual difference|difference]] is due to the [[female]]'s [[penis]] having been cut off.<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|On the Sexual Theories of Children]]". 1908. [[SE]] IX. p. 207</ref>

[[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]].

In the case of the [[boy]], the [[castration complex]] is the point of exit from the [[Oedipus complex]], its terminal crisis; 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]].

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]] [[desire]]s away from the [[mother]] and onto the [[father]].

===Symbolic Lack of an Imaginary Object===

It is not until the mid-1950s that the [[castration complex]] comes to play a prominent role in [[Lacan]]'s [[seminars|teaching]], primarily in [[the seminar of 1956-7]].

<blockquote>"It is insoluble by any reduction to biological givens."<ref>{{E}} p. 282</ref></blockquote>

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

===Three Times===

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]].

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:

This applies equally to [[boy]]s and [[girl]]s:

<blockquote>"[This] relationship to the phallus . . . is established without regard to the anatomical difference of the sexes."<ref>{{E}} p. 282</ref></blockquote>

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

This normalising effect is to be understood in terms of both [[psychopathology]] ([[clinic]]al [[structure]]s and [[symptom]]s) and [[sexual identity]].

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

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 complex|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 complex|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 organ]]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 Also==

{{See}}

* [[Oedipus complex]]

* [[Penis]]

* [[Phallus]]

{{Also}}