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Phallus

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==Sigmund Freud=====Phallus and Penis===[[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]] abounds in references to the [[phallus|penis]]Image:Kida_p. [[Freud]] argues that children of both [[sexual differencegif |sexes]] set great value on the [[phallusright|penis]], and that their discovery that some [[human]] [[being]]s do not possess a [[phallusframe|penis]] leads to important psychical consequences. However, the term "[[phallus]]" rarely appears in [[Freud]]'s ''[[Works of Sigmund FreudKid_A_In_Alphabet_Land_-_Phallus|workKid A In Alphabet Land Pacifies Another Pernicious Persona - The Phony Phallus!]], and when it does it is used as a synonym of "[[phallus|penis''']]".
=Sigmund Freud==Sexual Difference=Phallus and Penis==[[Freud]] does use did not distinguish between the adjective "[[phallicpenis]]" more frequently, such as in the expression the "an actual ([[phallic phaseanatomical]]", but again this implies no rigorous distinction between the terms ") [[phallusbody|bodily organ]]" and "the [[phallus|penis]]", since the [[phallic phase]] denotes as a stage in [[development]] in which the [[child]] ([[boy]] or [[girl]]) knows only one [[biology|genital organsignifier]] - the of [[phallus|penissexual difference]].
==Jacques LacanPhallic Phase==[[LacanFreud]] called the [[development|period]] between [[development|three and five years of age]] generally prefers to use the term "[[phallusphallic phase]]." rather than " The [[phallic phase]] denotes a [[stage]] in [[phallus|penisdevelopment]]" in order to emphasize which the fact that what concerns [[psychoanalytic theorychild]] ([[boy]] or [[girl]]) [[knows]] is not the only one [[biology|male genital organ]] in its - the [[biologyphallus|biologicalpenis]] . At this stage, infants of both [[realitysexes]] but are dominated by the question of who possesses a penis and the role that this organ plays in related issue of its masturbatory jouissance ([[fantasygratification]]). Hence [[LacanFreud]] usually reserves the term "argues that [[children]] of both [[phallussexual difference|penissexes]] set great [[value]]" for on the [[biologyphallus|biological organpenis]], and the term "that their discovery that some [[human]] [[being]]s do not possess a [[phallus|penis]] leads to important [[psyche|psychical]]" for consequences. Up to this point, the mother is imagined as having a penis, and the discovery that she [[imaginarylacks]] and a penis, after an initial [[symbolicdenial]] functions of this , precipitates the [[biologyCastration Complex|organcastration complex]].
<!-- =====Freud's Work===== --><!-- While this terminological distinction had his first intuition of the primacy of the phallus as early as 1905 in "[[Three]] essays on the theory of sexuality"; it is not found explicitly discussed in "The [[Freudinfantile]]'s genital organization," which Freud offered in 1923 as a complement to "Three Essays." In this later [[Works of Sigmund Freud|worktext]], it responds the predominance of the phallus is linked to the logic implicit problematic of castration in the following way:<blockquote>The main characteristic of this 'infantile genital organization' is its [[Freuddifference]]'s formulations on from the final genital organization of the [[phallus|penisadult]]. For exampleThis consists in the fact that, when for both sexes, only one genital, namely the male one, comes into account. What is [[present]], therefore, is not a primacy of the genitals, but a primacy of the phallus. [Freud1923, p. 142 ]</blockquote>The fact that the essential [[role]] speaks of only one genital organ is recognized at a certain stage in infantile [[symbolicsexual]] equation between development implies that this primacy, from the outset, is not located in the realm of anatomical reality or on the level of organs, but precisely on the level of what a lack of the organ might [[phallus|penisrepresent]] and subjectively.Freud ( 1923) makes the same radical [[babydistinction]] which allows by linking castration to the phallic [[girlorder]]and not to the penis.<blockquote>The lack of a penis [my italics] is regarded as a result of castration, and so now the child is faced with the task of coming to appease her [[penis envyterms]] by having a with castration in relation to himself. The further developments are too well known generally to make it necessary to recapitulate [[childthem]], here. But it is clear seems to me that he is not talking about the [[biologysignificance]] of the [[Castration Complex|real organcastration complex]] can only be rightly appreciated if its origin in the [[phase]]of phallic primacy is also taken into account. [ Freud's italics][p.144]<ref/blockquote>{{F}} In fact, sexual difference is constituted from the outset on the basis of this [[notion]] of lack: the [[feminine]] genital organ is different from the [[masculine]] one only because it lacks something. In addition, the product of observation (perceptual reality) is immediately elaborated on the [[subjective]] level as a conception: Freud writes "the lack of a penis is regarded as."As Freud ( 1923) puts it, this lack confronts the child "with the task of coming to terms with castration in relation to himself" (p. 144).--><!-- It is in the [[Works domain]] of Sigmund Freud|On these [[Freudian]] references that Lacan systematizes the Transformations problematics of Instinctthe phallus as foundational to [[psychoanalytic]] theory. Specifically, Lacan establishes the phallus as Exemplified the primordial signifier of desire in Anal Eroticism[[oedipal]]triangulation." 1917c. The [[SEOedipus]] XVII, 127</ref> It can be argued, then, that complex plays itself out around locating the [[Lacanposition]]'s terminological innovation simply clarifies certain distinctions that were already implicit of the phallus in relation to the desire of the mother, the child, and the father. A [[Freuddialectical]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|workprocess]]develops in two modes: that of being the phallus and that of having the phallus. -->
===Jacques Lacan's Work===The term [[phallic]] occupies an important [[place]] in [[Lacanian]] [[speech|discourse]]. The [[phallus]] plays a central role in both the [[Oedipus complex]] and in the theory of [[sexual difference]].<!-- Although not prominent in [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]] before the mid-1950s, the term "[[phallus]]" occupies an ever more important place in his [[discourse]] thereafter. The [[phallus]] plays a central role in both the [[Oedipus complex]] and in the theory of [[sexual difference]].-->
===Oedipus complexNot Penis===The [[phallusLacan]] is one of the three elements in generally prefers to use the term "[[imaginaryphallus]] " rather than "[[structurephallus|trianglepenis]] " in order to emphasize the fact that constitutes the what concerns [[preoedipal phasepsychoanalytic theory]]. It is an not the [[imaginarybiology|male genital organ]] in its [[objectbiology|biological]] which circulates between the other two elements, the [[motherreality]] and but the role that this organ plays in [[childfantasy]].<ref>{{S3}} p. 319</ref> The Hence [[mother]] [[desireLacan]]s this [[object]] and the [[child]] seeks to satisfy her [[desire]] by [[identifying]] with usually reserves the term "[[phallus|penis]] or with " for the [[phallusbiology|phallic motherbiological organ]]. In , and the term "[[Oedipus complexphallus]] " for the [[father]] intervenes as a fourth term in this [[imaginary]] and [[structure|trianglesymbolic]] by functions of this [[castrationbiology|castratingorgan]] the . [[childJacques Lacan]]; that is, he makes it impossible for the [[childchose]] to use the term "phallus" for [[identify]] with the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]]. The and symbolic [[childrepresentation]] is then faced with of the penis in order to better distinguish the choice role of accepting his [[castration]] (accepting that he cannot be the penis in the fantasy [[motherlife]]'s [[phallus]]) or rejecting it. ((For Lacan, the phallus is not to be equated with the penis, and as a signifier it performs a different function in each of the three orders: the imaginary, the symbolic and the realboth sexes from its anatomical role. ))
===Sexual DifferenceSignifier=== For [[Lacan]] argues that both focus on the function of the [[boyphallus]]s and as a [[girlsignifier]]s must assume their of [[castrationlack]], in the sense that every and [[childsexual difference]] must renounce the possibility of being the . The [[phallus]] for the in [[Lacan]]ian [[mothertheory]]; this "relationship to the phallus . . . is established without regard to should not be confused with the anatomical difference of the sexes."<ref>{{E}} p. 282</ref> The renunciation by both [[sexual difference|sexesmale]] of [[identificationgenital]] with the [[phallus|imaginary phallusorgan]] paves the way for a relationship with the , although it clearly carries those connotations. The [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] which is different for the first and foremost a [[sexual difference|sexessignifier]]; the man has the and in [[phallus|symbolic phallusLacan]] (or, more precisely, "he is not without having it" 's [[''il n'est pas sans l'avoir''system]]), but the a particularly privileged [[womansignifier]] does not. This is complicated by the fact that the The [[woman|manphallus]] can only lay claim to the operates in all three of [[phallus|symbolic phallusLacan]] on condition that he has assumed his own 's [[castrationregister]] (has given up being s - the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]]), the [[symbolic]] and by the fact that [[real]] - and as his system develops it becomes the one single indivisible [[womansignifier]]'s that anchors the [[lackchain]] of the [[phallus|symbolic phallussignification]] . Indeed, it is also a kind particularly privileged [[signifier]] because it inaugurates the process of possession.<ref>{{S4}} p[[signification]] itself. 153</ref>
==Oedipus complex==The status [[phallus]] is one of the three elements in the [[imaginary]] [[structure|triangle]] that constitutes the [[preoedipal phase]]. It is an [[phallusimaginary]]: [[realobject]]which circulates between the other two elements, the [[imaginarymother]] and the [[child]].<ref>{{S3}} p. 319</ref> The [[mother]] [[desire]]s this [[object]] and the [[child]] seeks to [[satisfy]] her [[desire]] by [[identifying]] with the [[phallus]] or with the [[symbolicphallus|phallic mother]]? . In the [[LacanOedipus complex]] speaks of the [[phallusfather]] intervenes as a fourth term in this [[imaginary]] [[structure|triangle]] by [[castration|real phalluscastrating]] the [[child]]; that is, he makes it [[impossible]] for the [[child]] to [[identify]] with the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] . The [[child]] is then faced with the [[choice]] of accepting his [[castration]] (accepting that he cannot be the [[mother]]'s [[phallus]]) or rejecting it. ((For Lacan, the phallus is not to be equated with the penis, and as a signifier it performs a different function in each of the three [[phallusorders]]: [[The Imaginary|the imaginary]], [[the symbolic phallus]]:and the real. ))
==[[Sexual Difference]]===The Real Phallus===== As has already been observed[[Lacan]] argues that both [[boy]]s and [[girl]]s must assume their [[castration]], in the [[sense]] that every [[Lacanchild]] must [[renounce]] usually uses the term "possibility of being the [[phallus|penis]]" to denote for the [[realmother]] ; this "[[biology|biological organrelationship]] and reserves to the term "phallus . . . is established without [[phallusregard]]" to denote the anatomical difference of the sexes."<ref>{{E}} p. 282</ref> The [[imaginaryrenunciation]] and by both [[symbolicsexual difference|sexes]] functions of this [[biologyidentification]] with the [[phallus|organimaginary phallus]]. However, he does not always maintain this usage, occasionally using paves the way for a relationship with the term "[[phallus|real symbolic phallus]]" to denote which is different for the [[biologysexual difference|biological organsexes]], or using ; the man has the terms "[[phallus|symbolic phallus]](or, more precisely, " and he is not without having it"[''il n'est pas sans l'avoir'']), but the [[phallus|symbolic peniswoman]]" as if they were synonymousdoes not.<ref>{{S4}} p. 153</ref> This apparent confusion and semantic is complicated by the fact that the [[woman|man]] can only lay [[slipclaim]]page has led some commentators to argue that the supposed distinction between the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] and on condition that he has assumed his own [[castration]] (has given up being the [[phallus|penisimaginary phallus]] is in ), and by the fact highly unstable and that "the [[woman]]'s [[lack]] of the [[phallus|symbolic phallus concept ]] is the site also a kind of a regression towards the biological organpossession."<ref>Macey, David{{S4}} p. (1988) ''Lacan in Contexts''. London and New York: Verso. 1988: 191153</ref>
----The status of the [[phallus]]: [[real]], [[imaginary]] or [[symbolic]]? [[Lacan]] speaks of the [[phallus|real phallus]], the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] and the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]]:
While the ==[[phallus|imaginary phallusThe Real]] and the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] are discussed more extensively by Phallus== As has already been observed, [[Lacan]] than usually uses the term "[[phallus|real phallus]], he does not entirely ignore the latter. On the contrary, the [[phallus|real penis]] has an important role " to play in denote the [[Oedipus complexreal]] of the little boy, for it is precisely via this [[biology|biological organ]] that his and reserves the term "[[sexualityphallus]] makes itself felt in infantile masturbation; this intrusion of " to denote the [[realimaginary]] in the and [[imaginarysymbolic]] functions of this [[preoedipalbiology|organ]] . However, he does not always maintain this usage, occasionally using the term "[[structurephallus|trianglereal phallus]] is what transforms " to denote the [[structurebiology|trianglebiological organ]] from something , or using the terms "[[pleasure principlephallus|pleasurablesymbolic phallus]] to something which provokes " and "[[anxietyphallus|symbolic penis]]" as if they were synonymous.<ref>{{S4}} p. 225-6; {{S4}} p. 341153</ref> The question posed in This [[apparent]] confusion and semantic [[slip]]page has led some commentators to argue that the supposed distinction between the [[Oedipus complexphallus]] is that of where and the [[phallus|real phalluspenis]] is located; in fact highly unstable and that "the answer required for the resolution of this phallus [[complexconcept]] is that it is located in the site of a [[realregression]] towards the [[fatherbiological]]organ."<ref>{{S4}} pMacey, David. 281</ref> The [[phallus|real phallus]] is written Π (1988) ''Lacan in Contexts''. [[Lacan]]ian [[algebraLondon]]and New York: Verso.1988: 191</ref>
===The Imaginary Phallus===When While the [[Lacanphallus|imaginary phallus]] first introduces and the distinction between [[phallus|penissymbolic phallus]] are discussed more extensively by [[Lacan]] and than the [[phallus|real phallus]], he does not entirely ignore the latter. On the contrary, the [[phallus|real penis]] refers has an important role to an play in the [[Oedipus complex]] of the little boy, for it is precisely via this [[imaginarybiology|organ]] that his [[objectsexuality]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 31</ref> This is the "makes itself felt in infantile [[phallus|image masturbation]]; this intrusion of the penis[[real]]",<ref>{{E}} p. 319</ref> in the [[phallusimaginary]] [[preoedipal]] [[structure|penistriangle]] imagined as a is what transforms the [[part-objectstructure|triangle]] which may be detached from the something [[fragmented bodypleasure principle|bodypleasurable]] by to something which provokes [[castrationanxiety]],.<ref>{{ES4}} p. 315</ref> the "phallic image".<ref>225-6; {{ES4}} p. 320341</ref> The [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] is perceived by the [[child]] question posed in the [[preoedipal phase]] as the [[objectOedipus complex]] is that of where the [[motherphallus|real phallus]]'s [[desire]], as that which she [[desire]]s beyond is located; the [[child]]; answer required for the [[childresolution]] thus seeks to [[identify]] with of this [[object]]. The [[Oedipus complex]] and is that it is located in the [[Castration complexreal]] involve the renunciation of this attempt to be the [[phallus|imaginary phallusfather]]. <ref>{{S4}} p. 281</ref> The [[phallus|imaginary real phallus]] is written φ (lower-case phi) Π in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]], which also represents [[phallus|phallic signification]]. [[Castration]] is written -φ (minus lower-case phi).
===The Symbolic Imaginary Phallus===The When [[phallus|imaginary phallus] which circulates between [[mother]] and [[childLacan]] serves to institute the first [[dialectic]] in introduces the child's life, which, although it is an distinction between [[imaginaryphallus|penis]] and [[dialecticphallus]], already paves the way towards the [[symbolicphallus]], since refers to an [[imaginary]] element is circulated in much the same way a [[signifierobject]] (.<ref>{{S4}} p. 31</ref> This is the "[[phallus|image of the penis]] becomes an "[[imaginary]] [[signifier]]"),<ref>{{E}} p. Thus [[Lacan]]'s formulations on 319</ref> the [[phallus|imaginary phalluspenis]] in the imagined as a [[seminarpart-object]] of 1956-7 are accompanied by statements that which may be detached from the [[phallusfragmented body|body]] is also a by [[symbolic]] [[objectcastration]],<ref>{{S4E}} p. 152315</ref> and that the "phallic [[phallus]] is a [[signifierimage]]".<ref>{{S4E}} p. 191320</ref> The idea that the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] is a perceived by the [[signifierchild]] is taken up again and further developed in the 1957-8 [[seminarpreoedipal phase]] and becomes as the principle element [[object]] of the [[Lacanmother]]'s theory of [[desire]], as that which she [[desire]]s beyond the [[phalluschild]] thereafter; the [[phalluschild]] thus seeks to [[identify]] with this [[object]] is described as "the . The [[signifierOedipus complex]] of and the [[desireCastration complex]] involve the renunciation of this attempt to be the [[Otherphallus|imaginary phallus]]",<ref>{{E}} p. 290</ref> and the The [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] is written φ (lower-[[case]] phi) in [[Lacan]]ian [[signifieralgebra]] of '', which also represents [[jouissancephallus|phallic signification]]''.<ref>{{E}} p [[Castration]] is written -φ (minus lower-case phi). 320</ref>
As we saw above, the child slowly comes to realise that it is not identical to, or the sole object of, the mother's [[desire,]] as her desire is directed elsewhere. He/she will therefore attempt to once again become the object of her desire and [[return]] to the initial [[state]] of blissful union. The simple dyadic relationship between the mother and child is thus turned into a [[triangular]] relationship between the child, the mother and the object of her desire. The child attempts to [[seduce]] the mother by becoming that [[object of desire]]. Lacan calls this [[third]] term the [[imaginary phallus]]. [[The Imaginary|The imaginary]] phallus is what the child assumes someone must have in order for them to be the object of the mother's desire and, as her desire is usually directed towards the father, it is assumed that he possesses the phallus. Through trying to satisfy the mother's desire, the child [[identifies]] with the object that it presumes she has lost and attempts to become that object for her. The phallus is imaginary in the sense that it is associated in the child's [[mind]] with an actual object that has been lost and can be recovered. The [[Oedipus Complex|Oedipus complex]], for Lacan, involves the process of giving up the identification with this imaginary phallus, and recognizing that it is a signifier and as such was never there in the first place. What Freud called castration, therefore, is a symbolic process that involves the [[infant]]'s [[recognition]] of themselves as '[[lacking]]' something -the phallus. For Lacan, castration involves the process whereby boys accept that they can [[symbolically]] 'have' the phallus only by accepting that they can never actually have it 'in reality' and girls can accept 'not-having' the phallus once they give up on their 'phallic' identification with their mothers (we will discuss this very complicated [[idea]] in more detail in the chapter on sexual difference). This is the function of [[The Oedipus Complex|the Oedipus complex]] in Lacan.<!--According to Lacan, the phallus at the outset represents what else the mother desires is in addition to the [[baby]]. Thus, a [[pre-oedipal]] [[triangle]] of mother, phallus, and infant arises. At first the infant tries to be the phallus for the mother until the [[moment]] of a crucial transformation when the child, after identifying the phallus as a static image of [[completeness]] and sufficiency, sees it as representing the mother's desire, and thus her lack. From then on, the phallus takes the [[form]] of something [[missing]] (-') within any imaginary, and hence [[libidinal]], [[frame]] of reference. Thus the phallus comes to [[signify]] desire, Lacan says. -->
These arguments are stated in their most definitive form ==The Symbolic Phallus==<!-- When the phallus takes on the role of signifier, this implies that [[The Subject|the subject]] grasps it in the [[Other, the]] locus of the set of [[signifiers]] that determines [[LacanThe Subject|the subject]]. There it signifies the Other's paper desire, which is to say that the Other is marked by her own [[incompleteness]]. From then on ", the phallus signifies the Other's submission to the laws of symbolic [[exchange]], and such incompleteness frees up in [[The Signification of Subject|the Phallussubject]]"her own jouissance.<ref-->{{L}} "The [[The Signification of the Phallusphallus|La signification du imaginary phallus]]." ''which circulates between [[mother]] and [[child]] serves to institute the first [[Écritsdialectic]]in the child''. Paris: Seuils life, which, 1966 although it is an [[imaginary]] [[1958cdialectic]]: 685-95 , already paves the way towards the [["symbolic]], since an [[The Signification of imaginary]] element is circulated in much the Phallus|The signification of same way a [[signifier]] (the [[phallus]]becomes an "[[imaginary]] [[signifier]]"). Trans. Thus [[Alan SheridanLacan]] ''s formulations on the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] in the [[Écrits: A Selectionseminar]]''. London: Tavistock, 1977; New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1977: 281of 1956-917 are accompanied by statements that the [[phallus]] is also a [[symbolic]] [[object]]<ref>{{S4}} p.152</ref>and that the [[phallus]] is a [[signifier]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 191<blockquote/ref>The idea that the [[phallus ]] is not a fantasy, if by that we mean an [[Imaginarysignifier]] effect. Nor is it as such an object (parttaken up again and further developed in the 1957-, internal, good, bad, etc.). It is even less 8 [[seminar]] and becomes the [[principle]] element of [[Lacan]]'s theory of the [[phallus]] thereafter; the organ, penis or clitoris, that it symbolises. . . . The [[phallus ]] is a signifier. . . . It is described as "the [[signifier intended to designate as a whole ]] of the effects [[desire]] of the signified.[[Other]]",<ref>{{E}} p. 285290</ref>and the [[signifier]] of ''[[jouissance]]''.<ref>{{E}} p. 320</blockquoteref>
Whereas the These arguments are stated in their most definitive form in [[Castration complexLacan]] and the 's paper on "[[Oedipus complexThe Signification of the Phallus]] revolve around the ".<ref>{{L}} "[[phallusThe Signification of the Phallus|imaginary La signification du phallus]], the question of ." ''[[sexual differenceÉcrits]] revolves around ''. [[phallus|symbolic phallusParis]]: Seuil, 1966 [1958c]. The : 685-95 ["[[The Signification of the Phallus|The signification of the phallus]] has no corresponding ". Trans. [[woman|femaleAlan Sheridan]] ''[[signifierÉcrits: A Selection]]''. London: Tavistock, 1977; "the phallus is a symbol to which there is no correspondentNew York: W.W. Norton & Co, no equivalent. It's a matter of a dissymmetry in the signifier1977: 281-91].'"</ref>{{S3}} p. 176</refblockquote> Both The phallus is not a fantasy, if by that we mean an [[Imaginary]] effect. Nor is it as such an object (part-, [[sexual difference|maleinternal]] and , [[sexual difference|femalegood]] , bad, etc.). It is even less the organ, penis or clitoris, that it [[subjectsymbolises]]s assume their . . . . The phallus is a signifier. . . . It is the signifier intended to designate as a [[sexual difference|sexwhole]] via the effects of the [[phallus|symbolic phallussignified]].<ref>{{E}} p. 285</ref></blockquote>
----Whereas the [[Castration complex]] and the [[Oedipus complex]] revolve around the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]], the question of [[sexual difference]] revolves around [[phallus|symbolic phallus]]. The [[phallus]] has no corresponding [[woman|female]] [[signifier]]; "the phallus is a symbol to which there is no correspondent, no equivalent. It's a matter of a dissymmetry in the signifier.'"<ref>{{S3}} p. 176</ref> Both [[sexual difference|male]] and [[sexual difference|female]] [[subject]]s assume their [[sexual difference|sex]] via the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]].
Unlike the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]], the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] cannot be [[negation|negated]], for on the [[symbolic]] plane an [[absence]] is just as much a positive entity as a [[presence]].<ref>{{E}} p. 320</ref> Thus even the [[woman]], who [[lack]]s the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] in one way, can also be said to possess it, since not having it the [[symbolic]] is itself a form of having.<ref>{{S4}} p. 153</ref> Conversely, the assumption of the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] by the man is only possible on the basis of the prior assumption of his own [[castration]]. [[Lacan]] goes on in 1961 to state that the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is that which appears in the place of the [[lack]] of the [[signifier]] in the [[Other]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 278-81</ref> It is no ordinary [[signifier]] but the [[real]] [[presence]] of [[desire]] itself.<ref>{{S8}} p. 290</ref> In 1973 he states that the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is "the signifier which does not have a signified".<ref>{{S20}} p. 75</ref>
The [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is written ф in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]]. However, [[Lacan]] warns his students that the complexity of this [[symbol]] might be missed if they simply identify it with the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 296</ref> The [[symbol]] is more correctly [[understood]] as designating the "[[phallus|phallic function]]."<ref>{{S8}} p. 298</ref> In the early 1970s [[Lacan]] incorporates this [[symbol]] of the [[phallus|phallic function]] in his [[sexual difference|formulae of sexuation]]. Using predicate [[logic]] to articulate the problems of [[sexual difference]], [[Lacan]] devises two [[algebra|formulae]] for the [[sexual difference|masculine position]] and two [[algebra|formulae]] for the [[sexual difference|feminine position]]. All four [[algebra|formulae]] revolve around the [[phallus|phallic function]], which is here equivalent with the function of [[castration]].
 
<!-- desire and signification. It is desire that [[drives]] the process of [[symbolization]]. The phallus is the ultimate [[Object of Desire|object of desire]] that we have lost and always [[search]] for but never had in the first place. -->
<!-- To summarize, before we explore this complex idea further, the phallus stands for that moment of rupture when the child is [[forced]] to recognize the desire of the other; of the mother. 'The mother is refused to the child in so far as a [[prohibition]] falls on the child's desire to be what the mother desires' (Rose 1996a: 61). The phallus, therefore, always belongs somewhere else; it breaks the mother/child [[dyad]] and initiates the order of symbolic exchange. In this sense the phallus is both imaginary and symbolic. It is imaginary in that it represents the object presumed to satisfy the mother's desire; at the same [[time]], it is symbolic in that it stands in for the recognition that desire cannot be [[satisfied]]. By breaking [[The Imaginary|the imaginary]] couple 'the phallus represents a moment of [[division]] [that “lack-in-being”] which re-enacts the fundamental [[splitting]] of [[The Subject|the subject]] itself' (Rose 1996a: 63). As a presence in absence, a 'seeming' value, the phallus is a fraud . -->
The <!-- It is through the [[phallus|symbolic phallusintervention]] is written ф in of the [[LacanName]]ian -of-the-Father that [[algebraThe Imaginary|the imaginary]]. However, [[Lacanunity]] warns his students between child and mother is broken. The father is assumed to possess something that the complexity of child lacks and it is this that the mother desires. It is important here though not to confuse the [[symbolName-of-the-Father]] might be missed if they simply identify it with the actual father. The [[phallusName-of-the-father|Name-of-the-Father]] is a symbolic phallusfunction that intrudes into the [[illusory]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 296</ref> The [[symbolworld]] is more correctly understood as designating of the "child andbreaks [[phallusThe Imaginary|phallic functionthe imaginary]]dyad of the mother and child."<ref>{{S8}} pThe child assumes that the father is one that [[satisfies]] the mother's desire and possesses the phallus. 298</ref> In this sense, argues Lacan, the early 1970s [[LacanOedipus Complex|Oedipus complex]] incorporates this involves an element of [[symbolsubstitution]] , that is to say, the substitution of one signifier, the desire of the mother, for [[phallus|phallic functionanother]] in his , the [[sexual differenceName-of-the-father|formulae Name-of sexuation-the-Father]]. Using predicate logic to articulate It is through this initial act of substitution that the problems process of signification begins and child enters the [[sexual differencesymbolic order]], as a subject of lack. It is also for this [[Lacanreason]] devises two that Lacan describes the process of symbolization itself as 'phallic'. It is through the [[algebraName-of-the-father|formulaeName-of-the-Father]] for that the phallus is installed as the central organizing signifier of the [[sexual difference|masculine positionunconscious]] and two . The phallus is the 'original' [[algebra|formulaelost object]] for , but only insofar as no one possessed it in the first place. The phallus, therefore, is not like any other signifier, it is the signifier of absence and does not '[[sexual difference|feminine positionexist]]. All four ' in its own [[algebra|formulaeright]] revolve around the as a [[phallus|phallic functionthing]], which is here equivalent with the function of an object or a [[castrationbodily]]organ. Let us look at this more closely.-->
<!-- Lacan equates the process of giving up the imaginary phallus with Freud's account of [[castration anxiety]], but he argues that the process of castration in Freud is more complicated than [[people]] generally [[think]]. Castration involves not just an anxiety [[about]] losing one's penis but simultaneously the recognition of lack or absence . The child is concerned about losing its own penis and simultaneously recognizes that the mother does not have a penis. The idea of the penis, therefore, becomes metonymically linked to the recognition of lack . It is in this sense that Lacan argues that the phallus is not simply the penis; it is the penis plus the recognition of absence or lack . Castration is not the [[fear]] that one has already lost, in the case of girls, or will lose, in the case of boys, one's penis but rather [[The Symbolic|the symbolic]] process of giving up the idea that one can be the phallus for the mother. The intervention of the father distances the child from the mother and also places the phallus forever beyond its reach. If [[The Symbolic|the symbolic]] father is seen to possess the phallus, then the child can only become a subject itself in [[The Symbolic|the symbolic]] order by renouncing the imaginary phallus. The problem for Lacan is how does one symbolically represent 'lack' - something that by definition is not there? His solution is the idea of the '[[veil]]'. The presence of the veil suggests that there is an object behind it, which the veil covers over, although this is only a presumption on the part of [[The Subject|the subject]]. In this way the veil enables the perpetuation of the idea that the object [[exists]]. Thus, both boys and girls can have a relationship to the phallus on the basis that it always remains veiled and out of reach. The phallus provides the vital link between --><!-- ==Phallic Jouissance== In his seminar on [[female]] sexuality (1998), Lacan further specified what he meant by the term "[[phallic jouissance]]." He used the phallic signifier (Φ) in [[writing]] his "[[formulas]] of [[sexuation]]," which posit that every human being has to be on one side or the other of the sexual [[divide]]. A woman always has something of the phallus (she is not entirely [[castrated]]), and the man is only supposed to "have" the phallus when he fantasizes his castration. In Lacan's symbolic notation, the phallus takes on the [[formal]] role of a [[supplement]], which adds to the [[Castration Complex|castration complex]] the fact that "there is no sexual relation," as Lacan said, referring to the [[impossibility]] of writing an equation of the relationship between the sexes. --><!-- ===Criticisms of Lacan===Of all [[Lacan]]'s [[ideas]], his concept of the [[phallus]] is perhaps the one which has given rise to most controversy. Objections to [[Lacan]]'s concept fall into two main groups.
Firstly, some [[feminist ]] writers have argued that the privileged position [[Lacan]] accords to the [[phallus]] means that he merely repeats the patriarchal gestures of [[Freud]] (e.g. Grosz, 1990). Other feminists have defended [[Lacan]], arguing that his distinction between the [[phallus]] and the [[phallus|penis]] provides a way of accounting for [[sexual difference]] which is irreducible to [[biology]] (e.g. Mitchell and Rose, 1982).
The second main objection to [[Lacan]]'s concept of the [[phallus]] is that put forward by [[Jacques Derrida]].<ref>Derrida, Jacques. (1975) "Le facteur de la vérité." ''The Post Card: From [[Socrates ]] to Freud and Beyond''. Trans. Alan Bass, Chicago and London: [[University ]] of Chicago Press, 1987 [1975]: 413-96</ref> and echoed by [[others]]. [[Derrida]] argues that, despite [[Lacan]]'s protestations of anti-transcendentalism, the [[phallus]] operates as a [[transcendental ]] element which [[acts ]] as an [[ideal ]] [[guarantee ]] of [[meaning]]. How can there be such a thing as a "privileged signifier", asks [[Derrida]], given that every [[signifier]] is defined only by its differences from other [[signifier]]s? The [[phallus]], in other [[words]], reintroduces the [[metaphysics ]] of [[presence]] which [[Derrida]] denominates as [[logocentrism]], and thus [[Derrida]] concludes that, by articulating this with [[phallocentrism]], [[Lacan]] has created a [[phallocentrism|phallogocentric system of thought]].-->
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Algebra]]
{{Also}}
=External Links===* Hook, Derek (2006). [http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/960/1/Lacanthemeaning.pdf Lacan, the meaning of the phallus and the ‘sexed’ subject] [online]. London: LSE Research Online. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/960  =References=====
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[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Real]]
 
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