Castration complex
"castration complex" (Fr. complexe de castration)
Contents
Definition
Sigmund Freud
Infantile Theory
Freud first described the castration complex in 1908, arguing that the child, on discovering the anatomical difference between the sexes (the presence or absence of the penis), makes the assumption that this difference is due to the female's penis having been cut off.[1]
The castration complex is thus the moment when one infantile theory (everyone has a penis) is replaced by a new one (females have been castrated).
The consequences of this new infantile theory are different in the boy and in the girl.
The boy fears that his own penis will be cut off by the father (castration anxiety), while the girl sees herself as already castrated (by the mother) and attempts to deny this or to compensate for it by seeking a child as a substitute for the penis (penis envy).
Phallic Phase
The castration complex affects both sexes because its appearance is closely linked with the phallic phase, a moment of psychosexual development when the child, whether boy or girl, knows only one genital organ - the male one.
This phase is also known as the infantile genital organisation because it is the first moment when the partial drives are unified under the primacy of the genital organs.
It thus anticipates the genital organisation proper which arises at puberty, when the subject is aware of both the male and the female sexual organs (see Freud, 1923e).
Oedipus Complex
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 threat) the boy renounces his desire for the mother and thus enters the 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 libidinal desires away from the mother and onto the father.
Because of this difference, in the case of the girl the Oedipus complex has no definitive terminal crisis comparable to the boy's.[2]
Conclusion
Freud came to see the castration complex as a universal phenomenon, one which is rooted in a basic 'rejection of femininity' (Ablehnung der Weiblich-keit).
It is encountered in every subject, and represents the ultimate limit beyond which psychoanalytic treatment cannot go.[3]
Jacques Lacan
Catration 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' (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.'[4] This applies equally to boys and girls: this 'relationship to the phallus . . . is established without regard to the anatomical difference of the sexes.'[5] 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.
Normalizing Effect
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 psychopathology (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 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.'[6] A more radical defence against castration than repression is disavowal, which is at the root of the perverse structure.
The psychotic takes the most extreme path of all; he completely repudiates castration, as if it had never existed.[7] 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.
See Also
