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In the [[stage]]s of [[psychosexual development]] listed by [[Freud]], the [[genital|genital stage]] is the last [[stage]] in the series, coming after the two [[genital|pregenital stages]] (the [[development|oral stage]] and the [[development|anal stage]]).
The [[genital|genital stage]] first arises between the ages of [[three ]] and five (the [[development|infantile genital organization]] or [[development|phallic phase]]) and is then interrupted by the [[latency period]], before returning at [[puberty ]] (the [[genital|genital stage]] proper).
[[Freud]] defined this [[stage]] as the final "[[complete ]] organization" of the [[libido]], a [[synthesis ]] of the previously anarchic "[[perversion|polymorphous perversity]]" of the [[genital|pregenital stage]]s.<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Splitting of the Ego in the Process of Defence]]" 1940a [1938]. [[SE]] XXIII. p. 155</ref>
==Jacques Lacan==
==Genitality==
Because of this, the [[concept ]] of "[[genital|genitality]]" came to [[represent ]] a privileged [[value ]] in [[psychoanalytic theory]] after [[Freud]], coming to represent a [[stage]] of [[full ]] [[development|psychosexual maturity]].
[[Lacan]] rejects most [[psychoanalytic theory]] concerning the [[genital]] [[stage]], [[genital]] [[love]], etc., calling it an "absurd hymn to the [[harmony]] of the [[genital]]."<ref>{{E}} p. 245</ref>
According to [[Lacan]], there is [[nothing ]] [[harmonious]] [[about ]] [[genital]]ity.
==Genital Stage==
The [[stages ]] of [[development|psychosexual development]] are conceived by [[Lacan]] not as [[nature|natural phases]] of [[biology|biological maturation]] but as forms of [[demand]] which are [[structure]]d [[punctuation|retroactively]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 238-46</ref>
In the [[development|oral]] and [[development|anal stages]], [[desire]] is eclipsed by [[demand]], and it is only in the [[genital stage]] as a [[third ]] [[moment ]] which comes after the [[development|oral]] and [[development|anal stages]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 268</ref>
However, [[Lacan]]'s [[discussion ]] of this [[development|stage]] focuses on what [[Freud]] referred to as the "[[genital|infantile genital organization]]" (also known as the [[phallic phase]]); a [[development|stage]] when the [[child]] [[knows ]] only one [[sexual ]] [[organ ]] (the [[male ]] one) and passes through the [[castration complex]].
===Castration===
Thus the [[genital|genital phase]] is only thinkable, [[Lacan]] emphasizes, insofar as it is marked by the [[sign]] of [[castration]]; "[[genital|genital realization]]" can only be achieved on condition that the [[subject]] first assumes his own [[castration]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 219</ref>
Furthermore, [[Lacan]] insists that even when the [[perversion|polymorphous perverse]] [[sexuality]] of the [[genital|pregential phases]] comes under the domination of the genital organization, this does not mean that [[pregenital ]] [[sexuality]] is abolished.
<blockquote>"The most archaic aspirations of the child are... a nucleus that is never completely resolved under some primacy of genitality."<ref>{{S7}} p.93</ref></blockquote>
The [[genital|genital drive]] is not listed by [[Lacan]] as one of the [[drive|partial drive]]s.
Given that [[Lacan]] argues that every [[drive]] is a [[drive|partial drive]], his [[refusal ]] to include the [[genital|genital drive]] among the [[drive|partial drive]]s is tantamount to questioning its [[existence]].
In 1964, [[Lacan]] makes this [[explicit]].
He writes: "the [[partial ]] drive, if it [[exists]], is not at all articulated like the other [[drives]].<ref>{{S11}} p. 189</ref>
Unlike the other [[drive]]s, the [[genital|genital drive]] (if it [[exist]]s) "finds its [[form]]" on the side of the [[Other]].<ref>{{S11}} p. 189</ref>
Furthermore, there is no "[[genital|genital object]]" that would correspond to a supposed [[genital drive]].
==Genital Love==
[[Lacan]] rejects Michael [[Balint]]'s concept of "[[genital|genital love]]".
The term indicates a [[development|psychosexual maturity]] in which the two elements of sensuality and affection are completely integrated and harmonized, and in which there is thus no longer any [[ambivalence]].
[[Freud]], however, never used the term, and [[Lacan]] rejects it as completely [[alien ]] to [[psychoanalytic theory]].
For [[Lacan]], the [[idea ]] of final [[development|psychosexual maturity]] and [[progress|synthesis]] implied in the term "[[genital|genital love]]" is an [[illusion]] which completely overlooks "the barriers and snubs (''Erniedrigungen'') that are so common even in the most fulfilled love relation."<ref>{{E}} p. 245</ref>
There is no such [[thing ]] as a [[ambivalence|post-ambivalent]] [[object]] relation.
===Oblativity===
The concept of [[genital|genital love]] is closely linked to that of "[[genital|oblativity]]", a term used by some [[psychoanalyst]]s to designate a mature form of [[love]] in which one [[loves]] the other person for what he is rather than for what he can give.
[[Lacan]] is as critical of the concept of [[genital|oblativity]] as he is of the concept of [[genital|genital love]], viewing it as a form of moralism and a [[betrayal ]] of the [[analytic ]] discovery of the [[part-object]].<ref>{{S8}} pp. 173-4</ref>
He argues that the concept of [[genital|oblativity]] has little to do with [[genital|genitality]] and has far more in common with [[anal ]] [[eroticism]].
Following [[Freud]]'s equation between faeces and gifts, [[Lacan]] states that the [[formula ]] of [[genital|oblativity]] - "everything for the other" -- shows that it is a [[fantasy]] of the [[obsessional neurosis|obsessional neurotic]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 241</ref>
==See also==
