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→Introduction
=Introduction=
The most controversial and contested area of [[Lacanian psychoanalysis]] involves the conceptualization of [[feminine]] [[sexuality]].
Lacan's thinking on feminine sexuality is distinguished by two main phases.
First, he was concerned to distinguish sexual difference on the basis of the phallus and here Lacan makes a significant innovation regarding Freudian thinking. For Freud the question of sexual differences revolved around the 'castration complex', that is, around whether or not someone 'has' or 'does not have' a penis.
For Lacan, on the other hand, castration is a symbolic process that invovles the cutting off, not of one's penis, but of one's ''jouissance'' and the recognition of lack.
In order to represent this lack the subject has two possible alternatives - that of 'having' or 'being' the phallus.
According to Lacan, masculinity involves the posture or pretence of having the phallus, while femininity involve the ''masquerade'' of being the phallus.
=Freud and the Enigma of Feminine Sexuality=
=Summary=
