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==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 position]]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 [[signifier]]s that stand for these two [[subjective position]]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]].
It is only when the child discovers [[sexual difference]] in the [[castration complex]] that he can begin to take up a [[sexual position]].
Both [[Freud]] and [[Lacan]] see this [[process ]] of taking up a [[sexual ]] position as closely connected with the [[Oedipus complex]], but they differ on the precise [[nature ]] of the connection.
For [[Freud]], the [[subject]]'s [[sexual position]] is determined by the sex of the parent with whom the [[subject]] [[identifies]] in the [[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]] [[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'']).
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>
