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Sexual Difference

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[[Image:Graph.of.Sexuation.jpg|thumb|right]]The phrase "[[sexual difference]]", which has come into prominence in the debate between [[psychoanalysis]] and [[feminism]], is not part of [[Freud]]'s or [[Lacan]]'s [[psychoanalytic theory|theoretical ]] [[:Category:Terms|vocabulary]].
[[Freud]] speaks only of the [[biology|anatomical ''distinction'' ]] between the [[sexes ]] and its [[psychical ]] consequences.<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. "The [[Dissolution]] of the Oedipus [[Complex]]." SE XIX, 183. 1925d1925.</ref>
[[Lacan]] speaks of [[sexual position|sexual ''position'' ]] and the [[sexual relationship|sexual ''relationship'']], and occasionally of the ''differentiation'' of the sexes.<ref>{{S4}} p.154</ref>
However, both [[Freud]] and [[Lacan]] address the question of [[sexual difference]], and an entry has been included for this temr term because it brings together an import set of related themes in [[Lacan]]'s [[work]], and because it constitutes an important focus for [[feminist ]] approaches to [[Lacan]]'s [[Lacan|work]].
==Freud on Sexual Difference==
One of the basic presuppositions underlying [[Freud]]'s work is that just as there are certain [[physical]] differences between [[men]] and [[women]], so also there are psychical differences.
One of the basic presuppositions underlying In other [[Freudwords]]'s work is that just as , there are certain physical differences between men psychical characteristics that can be called '[[masculine]]' and women, so also there are psychical differences[[others]] that can be called '[[feminine]].'
In other wordsRather than trying to give any [[formal]] definition of these [[terms]], there are certain [[Freud]] limits himself to describing how a [[human]] [[subject]] comes to acquire [[masculine]] or [[feminine]] psychical characteristics that can be called 'masculine' and others that can be called 'feminine.'
Rather than trying to give any formal definition of these termsThis is not an [[instinct]]ual or [[nature|natural]] [[process]], Freud limits himself to describing how but a human subject comes to acquire masculine or feminine complex one in which [[anatomical]] differences interact with [[social]] and psychical characteristicsfactors.
This is not an instinctual or natural process, but a complex one in which anatomical differences interact with social and psychical factors. The [[whole ]] process revolves around the [[castration complex]], in which the [[masculinity|boy ]] fears [[being ]] deprived of his [[penis ]] and the [[femininity|girl]], assuming that she has already been deprived of hers, develops [[penis envy]].
==Lacan on Sexual Difference==
Following [[Freud]], [[Lacan]] also engages with the problem of how the human [[infant ]] becomes a [[sexed subject]].
For [[Lacan]], [[masculinity ]] and [[femininity]] are not [[biological]] essences but [[symbolic positionsposition]]s, and the assumption of one of these two positions is fundamental to the [[construction ]] of [[subjectivity]]; the [[subject]] is essentially a [[sexed subject]].
"[[Man]]" and "[[woman]]" are signifiers [[signifier]]s that stand for these two [[subjective positionsposition]]s.<ref>{{S20}} p.34</ref>
==Becoming a Sexed Subject==
For both [[Freud]] and [[Lacan]], the [[child]] is at first ignorant of [[sexual difference]] and so cannot take up a [[sexual position]].
For both It is only when the child discovers [[Freudsexual difference]] and [[Lacan]], in the child is at first ignorant of [[sexual differencecastration complex]] and so cannot that he can begin to take up a [[sexual position]].
It is only when the child discovers Both [[sexual differenceFreud]] in the and [[castration complexLacan]] that he can begin to take see this process of taking up a [[sexual ]] positionas closely connected with the [[Oedipus complex]], but they differ on the precise [[nature]] of the connection.
Both For [[Freud]] and , the [[Lacansubject]] see this process of taking up a 's [[sexual position as closely connected ]] is determined by the sex of the parent with whom the [[subject]] [[identifies]] in the [[Oedipus complex]] (if the [[subject]] [[identifies]] with the [[father]], but they differ on he takes up a [[masculine]] [[position]]; [[identification]] with the precise nature [[mother]] entails the assumption of the connectiona [[feminine]] [[position]]).
For [[FreudLacan]], however, the [[subjectOedipus complex]] always involves a [[symbolic]] [[identification]]'s sexual position is determined by the sex of the parent with whom the subject identifies in the [[Father]], and hence [[Oedipus complex]] (if the subject identifies with the father, he takes up a masculine position; [[identification with the mother entails the assumption of a feminine ]] cannot determine [[sexual position)]].
For [[Lacan]], however, the [[Oedipus complex]] always involves a symbolic identification with the [[Father]], and hence Oedipus identification cannot determine sexual position. According to [[Lacan]], then, it is not [[identification ]] but the [[subject]]'s [[relationship ]] with the [[phallus]] which determines [[sexual position]].
==="Having" or "Not Having" the Phallus===
This relationship can either be one of "having" or "not having"; [[men]] have the [[symbolic]] [[phallus]], and [[women]] don't (or, to be more precise, [[men]] are "not without having it" [''ils ne sont pas sans l'avoir'']).
This relationship can either be one of "having" or "not having"; men have the symbolic phallus, and women don't (or, to be more precise, men are "not without having it" [''ils ne sont pas sans l'avoir'']). The assumption of a sexual position is fundamental a symbolic act, and the [[difference ]] between the sexes can only be conceived of on [[the symbolic ]] plane.<ref>{{S4}} p.153</ref>
<blockquote>It is insofar as the function of man and woman is [[symbolized]], it is insofar as it's literally uprooted from the [[domain ]] of the [[imaginary ]] and situated in the domain of the symbolic, that any normal, completed sexual position is realized.<ref>{{S3}} p.177</ref></blockquote>
==="Am I a man or a woman?"===
However, there is no [[signifier]] of [[sexual difference]] as such which would permit the [[subject]] to fully [[symbolize]] the function of [[man]] and [[woman]], and hence it is [[impossible]] to attain a fully "normal, finished sexual position."
However, there is no [[signifier]] of [[sexual difference]] as such which would permit the The [[subject]] to fully [[symbolize]] the function of [[man]] and [[woman]], and hence it is impossible to attain a fully "normal, finished 's sexual position."  The [[subjectidentity]]'s sexual identity is thus always a rather precarious matter, a source of perpetual [[self]]-questioning.
The question of one's own sex ("Am I a man or a woman?") is a question which defines [[hysteria]].
The mysterious "other sex" is always the [[woman]], for both men and women, and therefore the question of the [[hysteric]] ("What is a woman?") is the same for both male and female [[hysterics]].
===No Signifier of Sexual Difference in the Symbolic Order===
Although the anatomy/[[biology]] of the [[subject]] plays a part in the question of which sexual position the [[subject]] will take up, it is a fundamental axiom in [[psychoanalytic]] [[theory]] that anatomy does not determine sexual position.
Although There is a rupture between the anatomy/[[biologybiological]] aspect of the [[subjectsexual difference]] plays a part in (for example at the question level of the chromosomes) which sexual position is related to the [[reproductive]] function of sexuality, and the [[subjectunconscious]] will take up, it in which this reproductive function is a fundamental axiom in psychoanalytic theory that anatomy does not determine sexual positionrepresented.
There is a rupture between Given the biological aspect of non-[[sexual differencerepresentation]] (for example at the level of the chromosomes) which is related to the reproductive function of sexuality, and in the [[unconscious]], "in the pysche there is [[nothing]] by which this reproductive function is not representedthe subject may situate himself as a male or female being."<ref>{{S11}} p.204</ref>
Given the non-representation of the reproductive function of sexuality in the There is no [[unconscioussignifier]], "in the pysche there is nothing by which the subject may situate himself as a male or female being."<ref>{{S11}} p.204</ref> There is no signifier of [[sexual difference]] in the [[symbolic order]].
The only sexual signifier is the [[phallus]], and there is no "female" equivalent of this signifier:
<blockquote>"Strictly [[speaking ]] there is no [[symbolization ]] of woman's sex as such... the phallus is a symbol to which there is no correspondent, no equivalent. It's a matter of a dissymetry in the signifier."<ref>{{S3}} p.176</ref></blockquote>
Hence the [[phallus]] is "the pivot which completes ''in both sexes'' the questioning of their sex by the [[castration ]] complex."<ref>{{E}} p.198</ref>
===Dyammetry between Men and Woman===
It is this fundamental dissymmetry in the [[signifier]] which leads to the dissymmetry between the [[Oedipus complex]] in men and women.
It is this fundamental dissymetry in Whereas the [[male]] [[subject]] [[desire]]s the parent of the other sex and [[signiferidentifies]] which leads to with the parent of the dissymmetry between same sex, the [[Oedipus complexfemale]] [[subject]] [[desire]] in men s the parent of the same sex and women"is required to take the [[image]] of the other sex as the basis of its identification."<ref>{{S3}} p.176</ref>
Whereas the male subject desires <blockquote>"For a woman the parent realization of the other her sex and identifies with is not accomplished in the parent Oedipus complex in a way symmetrical to that of the same sexman's, not by identification with the female subject desires mother, but on the parent of contrary by identification with the same sex and "is required to take the image of the other sex as the basis of its identificationpaternal [[object]], which assigns her an extra detour."<ref>{{S3}} p.176172</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>"For a woman the realization of her sex is not accomplished in the Oedipus complex in a way symmetrical to that of the man's, not by identification with the mother, but on the contrary by identifcation with the paternal object, which assgns her an extra detour."<ref>{{S3}} p.172</ref></blockquote> <blockquote>"This signifying dissymmetry determines the paths down which the Oedipus complex will [[pass]]. The two paths make [[them ]] both pass down the same trail - the trail of castration."<ref>{{S3}} p.176</ref></blockquote>
===Opposition Masculine-Feminine===
If, then, there is no [[symbol]] for the opposition [[masculine]]-[[feminine]] as such, the only way to [[understand]] [[sexual difference]] is in terms of the opposition [[activity]]-[[passivity]].<ref>{{S11}} p.192</ref>
If, then, there This polarity is no symbol for the only way in which the opposition masculine[[male]]-feminine as such[[female]] is represented in the [[psyche]], since the only way to understand [[sexual differentbiological]] function of sexuality (reproduction) is in terms of the opposition activity-passivitynot represented.<ref>{{S11}} p.192204</ref>
This polarity is the only way in which the opposition male-female is represented in the psyche, since the biological function of sexuality (reproduction) is not represented.<ref>{{S11}} p.204</ref> This is why the question of what one is to do as a [[man ]] or a [[woman ]] is a drama which is situated entirely in the field of the [[Other]],<ref>{{S11}} p.204</ref> which is to say that the subject can only realize his sexuality on the symbolic level.<ref>{{S3}} p.170</ref> ==Formulae of Sexuation== [[Image:DIAGRAM.jpg|right|[[Sexual Difference|The diagram of sexual differencesexuality]]]] In on the [[seminars|seminar]] of [[chronology|1970-1]] [[Jacques Lacan]] tries to [[formalize]] his [[sexual difference|theory of sexual difference]] by means of [[mathemes|formulae]] derived from [[symbolic]] [[logic]].  The diagram is divided into two sides: on the left, [[formulae of sexuation|the male side]], and on the right, [[formulae of sexuation|the female side]].  The [[formulae of sexuation]] appear at the top of the diagram. Thus the formulae on the male side are [[Image:form1.jpg]] (= there is at least one x which is not submitted to the phallic function) and [[Image:form3.jpg]] (= for all x, the phallic funciton is valid). The last formula illustrates the relationship of [[woman]] to the logic of the not-all. What is most striking is that the two propositions on each side of the diagram seem to contradict each other: <blockquote>"Each side is defined by both an affirmation and a negation of the phallic funciton, an inclusion and exclusion of absolute (non-phallic) ''jouissance''."<ref>Copjec. 1994. p.24</ref></blockquote> However, there is no symmetry between the two sides (no sexual relationship); eahc side represents a radically different way in which the [[sexual relationship]] can misfirelevel.<ref>{{S20S3}} p.53-4170</ref>
==See Also==
* [[Gender identity]] {{See}}
* [[Oedipus complex]]
* [[Phallus]]
||* [[Sexuality]] * [[Sexual Relationship]]{{Also}}
==References==
<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small">
<references/>
</div># [[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. (1908c). On the sexual theories of [[children]]. SE, 9: 205-226.# ——. (1923e). The [[infantile ]] [[genital ]] organization (An interpolation into the theory of sexuality). SE, 19: 141-145.# [[Lacan, Jacques]]. (1966). "''La [[signification ]] du phallus (Die [[Bedeutung ]] des Phallus)''." [[Écrits, ]]. 685-695. [[Paris]]: Le Seuil. (Original work published 1958)
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