Changes

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.  In other words, the assumption of [[castration complex|castration]] has a "normalizing effect".  This normalising effect is to be understood in terms of both [[psychopathology]] ([[clinic]]al [[structure]]s and [[symptom]]s) and [[sexual identity]].