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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 [[developmentsignifier]] in which the of [[child]] ([[boy]] or [[girl]]) knows only one [[biology|genital organ]] - the [[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]].-->

For ===Not Penis===[[Lacan]], generally prefers to use the importance of term "[[Freudphallus]]'s insight into infantile sexuality was not whether or not girls have a " rather than "[[phallus|penis and boys fear ]]" in order to emphasize the fact that theirs will be cut off, what concerns [[psychoanalytic theory]] is not the [[biology|male genital organ]] in its [[biology|biological]] [[reality]] but the function of role that this organ plays in [[fantasy]]. Hence [[Lacan]] usually reserves the term "[[phallus|penis]]" for the [[biology|biological organ]], and the term "[[phallus]] as a " for the [[signifierimaginary]] and [[symbolic]] functions of this [[lackbiology|organ]]. [[Jacques Lacan]] [[chose]] to use the term "phallus" for [[the imaginary]] and symbolic [[representation]] of the penis in order to better distinguish the role of the penis in the fantasy [[sexual differencelife]]of both sexes from its anatomical role.

===Signifier===For [[Lacan]] focus on the function of the [[phallus]] as a [[signifier]] of [[lack]] and [[sexual difference]]. The [[phallus]] in [[Lacan]]ian [[theory]] should not be confused with the [[male]] [[genital]] [[organ]], although it clearly carries those connotations. The [[phallus]] is first and foremost a [[signifier]] and in [[Lacan]]'s [[system]] a particularly privileged [[signifier]]. The [[phallus]] operates in all three of [[Lacan]]'s [[register]]s - the [[imaginary]], the [[symbolic]] and the [[real]] - and as his system develops it becomes the one single indivisible [[signifier]] that anchors the [[chain]] of [[signification]]. Indeed, it is a particularly privileged [[signifier]] because it inaugurates the process of [[signification]] itself.

==Oedipus complex==The [[phallus]] operates is one of the three elements in all three of the [[Lacanimaginary]]'s [[registerstructure|triangle]]s - that constitutes the [[preoedipal phase]]. It is an [[imaginary]][[object]] which circulates between the other two elements, the [[symbolicmother]] and the [[realchild]].<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 [[phallus|phallic mother]]. In the [[Oedipus complex]] the [[father]] intervenes as his system develops a fourth term in this [[imaginary]] [[structure|triangle]] by [[castration|castrating]] the [[child]]; that is, he makes it becomes [[impossible]] for the [[child]] to [[identify]] with the one single indivisible [[signifierphallus|imaginary phallus]]. The [[child]] is then faced with the [[choice]] of accepting his [[castration]] (accepting that anchors he cannot be the [[chainmother]] of 's [[significationphallus]]) or rejecting it. Indeed((For Lacan, the phallus is not to be equated with the penis, and as a signifier it is performs a particularly privileged different function in each of the three [[signifierorders]] because it inaugurates : [[The Imaginary|the process of imaginary]], [[significationthe symbolic]] itselfand the real.))

==[[The Real]] Phallus==Oedipus complex==== The As has already been observed, [[Lacan]] usually uses the term "[[phallus|penis]] is one of the three elements in " to denote the [[imaginaryreal]] [[structurebiology|trianglebiological organ]] that constitutes and reserves the term "[[preoedipal phasephallus]]. It is an " to denote the [[imaginary]] and [[symbolic]] functions of this [[biology|organ]]. However, he does not always maintain this usage, occasionally using the term "[[objectphallus|real phallus]] which circulates between " to denote the other two elements[[biology|biological organ]], or using the terms "[[motherphallus|symbolic phallus]] " and the "[[childphallus|symbolic penis]]" as if they were synonymous.<ref>{{S3S4}} p. 319153</ref> The This [[mother]] [[desire]]s this [[objectapparent]] confusion and the semantic [[childslip]] seeks page has led some commentators to satisfy her [[desire]] by [[identifying]] with argue that the supposed distinction between the [[phallus]] or with and the [[phallus|phallic motherpenis]]. In the [[Oedipus complex]] the [[father]] intervenes as a fourth term is in this [[imaginary]] [[structure|triangle]] by [[castration|castrating]] the [[child]]; fact highly unstable and that is, he makes it impossible for "the [[child]] to [[identify]] with the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]]. The [[childconcept]] is then faced with the choice site of accepting his a [[castrationregression]] (accepting that he cannot be towards the [[motherbiological]]organ."<ref>Macey, David. (1988) ''Lacan in Contexts''s . [[phallusLondon]]) 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 ordersNew York: the imaginary, the symbolic and the realVerso. ))1988: 191</ref>

===Sexual Difference=== While the [[Lacanphallus|imaginary phallus]] argues that both and the [[boyphallus|symbolic phallus]]s and are discussed more extensively by [[girlLacan]]s must assume their than the [[castrationphallus|real phallus]], he does not entirely ignore the latter. On the contrary, the [[phallus|real penis]] has an important role to play in the sense that every [[childOedipus complex]] must renounce the possibility of being the little boy, for it is precisely via this [[phallusbiology|organ]] that his [[sexuality]] for the makes itself felt in infantile [[mothermasturbation]]; this "relationship to the phallus . . . is established without regard to the anatomical difference intrusion of the sexes."<ref>{{E}} p. 282</ref> The renunciation by both [[sexual difference|sexesreal]] of in the [[identificationimaginary]] with the [[phallus|imaginary phalluspreoedipal]] paves the way for a relationship with the [[phallusstructure|symbolic phallustriangle]] which is different for what transforms the [[sexual differencestructure|sexestriangle]]; the man has the from something [[phalluspleasure principle|symbolic phalluspleasurable]] (or, more precisely, "he is not without having it" [''il n'est pas sans l'avoir'']), but the to something which provokes [[womananxiety]] does not. <ref>{{S4}} p. 225-6; {{S4}} p. 341</ref> This is complicated by the fact that The question posed in the [[woman|manOedipus complex]] can only lay claim to is that of where the [[phallus|symbolic real phallus]] on condition that he has assumed his own is located; the answer required for the [[castrationresolution]] (has given up being the of this [[phallus|imaginary phalluscomplex]]), and by the fact is that it is located in the [[womanreal]]'s [[lack]] of the [[phallus|symbolic phallusfather]] is also a kind of possession.<ref>{{S4}} p. 153281</ref> The [[phallus|real phallus]] is written Π in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]].

==The status of Imaginary Phallus==When [[Lacan]] first introduces the distinction between [[phallus|penis]]: and [[realphallus]], the [[phallus]] refers to an [[imaginary]] or [[symbolicobject]]? .<ref>{{S4}} p. 31</ref> This is the "[[Lacanphallus|image of the penis]] speaks of ",<ref>{{E}} p. 319</ref> the [[phallus|real phalluspenis]] imagined as a [[part-object]] which may be detached from the [[fragmented body|body]] by [[castration]], <ref>{{E}} p. 315</ref> the "phallic [[image]]".<ref>{{E}} p. 320</ref> The [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] is perceived by the [[child]] in the [[preoedipal phase]] as the [[object]] of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], as that which she [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]]; the [[child]] thus seeks to [[identify]] with this [[object]]. The [[Oedipus complex]] and the [[Castration complex]] involve the renunciation of this attempt to be the [[phallus|symbolic imaginary phallus]]. The [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] is written φ (lower-[[case]] phi) in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]], which also represents [[phallus|phallic signification]]. [[Castration]]:is written -φ (minus lower-case phi).

=====The Real Phallus===== As has already been observedwe saw above, the child slowly comes to realise that it is not identical to, or the sole object of, the mother's [[Lacandesire,]] usually uses as her desire is directed elsewhere. He/she will therefore attempt to once again become the term "object of her desire and [[phallus|penisreturn]]" to denote the initial [[realstate]] of blissful union. The simple dyadic relationship between the mother and child is thus turned into a [[biology|biological organtriangular]] relationship between the child, the mother and reserves the term "object of her desire. The child attempts to [[phallusseduce]]" to denote the mother by becoming that [[imaginaryobject of desire]]. Lacan calls this [[third]] and term the [[symbolicimaginary phallus]] functions of this . [[biologyThe Imaginary|organThe imaginary]]. phallus is what the child assumes Howeversomeone 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 does not always maintain this usagepossesses the phallus. Through trying to satisfy the mother's desire, occasionally using the term "child [[phallus|real phallusidentifies]]" with the object that it presumes she has lost and attempts to denote 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 [[biologyOedipus Complex|biological organOedipus complex]], or using 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 terms "[[phallus|symbolic phallusinfant]]" and "'s [[phallus|symbolic penisrecognition]]" of themselves as if '[[lacking]]' something - the phallus. For Lacan, castration involves the process whereby boys accept that they were synonymous.<ref>{{S4}} p. 153</ref> This apparent confusion and semantic can [[slipsymbolically]]page has led some commentators to argue 'have' the phallus only by accepting that they can never actually have it 'in reality' and girls can accept 'not-having' the supposed distinction between the phallus once they give up on their 'phallic' identification with their mothers (we will discuss this very complicated [[phallusidea]] and in more detail in the chapter on sexual difference). This is the function of [[phallusThe Oedipus Complex|penisthe Oedipus complex]] in Lacan.<!-- According to Lacan, the phallus at the outset represents what else the mother desires is in fact highly unstable addition to the [[baby]]. Thus, a [[pre-oedipal]] [[triangle]] of mother, phallus, and that "infant arises. At first the infant tries to be the phallus concept is for the mother until the site [[moment]] of a regression towards crucial transformation when the child, after identifying the phallus as a static image of [[completeness]] and sufficiency, sees it as representing the biological organmother's desire, and thus her lack."<ref>MaceyFrom then on, David. the phallus takes the [[form]] of something [[missing]] (1988-') ''within any imaginary, and hence [[libidinal]], [[frame]] of reference. Thus the phallus comes to [[signify]] desire, Lacan in Contexts''says. London and New York: Verso. 1988: 191</ref-->

While ==The Symbolic Phallus==<!-- When the phallus takes on the role of signifier, this implies that [[phallusThe Subject|imaginary phallusthe subject]] and grasps it in the [[phallus|symbolic phallusOther, the]] are discussed more extensively by locus of the set of [[Lacansignifiers]] than the that determines [[phallusThe Subject|real phallusthe subject]]. There it signifies the Other's desire, he does not entirely ignore which is to say that the latterOther is marked by her own [[incompleteness]]. On From then on, the phallus signifies the Other's submission to the contrarylaws of symbolic [[exchange]], and such incompleteness frees up in [[The Subject|the subject]] her own jouissance. -->The [[phallus|real penisimaginary phallus]] which circulates between [[mother]] and [[child]] has an important role serves to play in institute the first [[Oedipus complexdialectic]] of in the little boychild's life, which, for although it is precisely via this an [[imaginary]] [[dialectic]], already paves the way towards the [[biology|organsymbolic]] that his , since an [[sexualityimaginary]] makes itself felt element is circulated in infantile masturbation; this intrusion of much the same way a [[realsignifier]] in (the [[phallus]] becomes an "[[imaginary]] [[preoedipalsignifier]] "). Thus [[structureLacan]]'s formulations on the [[phallus|triangleimaginary phallus]] in the [[seminar]] is what transforms of 1956-7 are accompanied by statements that the [[structure|trianglephallus]] from something is also a [[pleasure principle|pleasurablesymbolic]] to something which provokes [[anxietyobject]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 225-6; 152</ref> and that the [[phallus]] is a [[signifier]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 341191</ref> The question posed idea that the [[phallus]] is a [[signifier]] is taken up again and further developed in the 1957-8 [[seminar]] and becomes the [[principle]] element of [[Oedipus complexLacan]] is that 's theory of where the [[phallus|real ]] thereafter; the [[phallus]] is located; the answer required for described as "the resolution of this [[complexsignifier]] is that it is located in of the [[realdesire]] of the [[fatherOther]].",<ref>{{S4E}} p. 281290</ref> The and the [[phallus|real phallussignifier]] is written Π in of ''[[Lacan]]ian [[algebrajouissance]]''.<ref>{{E}} p.320</ref>

====The Imaginary Phallus====When These arguments are stated in their most definitive form in [[Lacan]] first introduces the distinction between 's paper on "[[phallus|penis]] and [[phallus]], The Signification of the [[phallus]] refers to an [[imaginary]] [[objectPhallus]]".<ref>{{S4L}} p. 31</ref> This is the "[[phallus|image The Signification of the penisPhallus|La signification du phallus]].",<ref>{{E}} p''[[Écrits]]''. 319</ref> the [[phallus|penisParis]] imagined as a : Seuil, 1966 [1958c]: 685-95 ["[[part-objectThe Signification of the Phallus|The signification of the phallus]] which may be detached from the ". Trans. [[fragmented body|bodyAlan Sheridan]] by ''[[castrationÉcrits: A Selection]]''. London: Tavistock, 1977; New York: W.W. Norton & Co,<ref>{{E}} p1977: 281-91]. 315</ref> the "phallic image".<ref>{{E}} p. 320</refblockquote> The [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] is perceived not a fantasy, if by the that we mean an [[child]] in the [[preoedipal phaseImaginary]] effect. Nor is it as the [[such an object]] of the (part-, [[motherinternal]]'s , [[desiregood]], as bad, etc.). It is even less the organ, penis or clitoris, that which she it [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]]; the [[child]] thus seeks to [[identify]] with this [[objectsymbolises]]. . . . The phallus is a signifier. . The [[Oedipus complex]] and . . It is the signifier intended to designate as a [[Castration complexwhole]] involve the renunciation effects of this attempt to be the [[phallus|imaginary phallussignified]]. The [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] is written φ (lower-case phi) in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]], which also represents [[phallus|phallic signification]]. [[Castration]] is written -φ (minus lower-case phi)<ref>{{E}} p.285</ref></blockquote>

====The Symbolic Phallus====The [[phallus|imaginary phallus] which circulates between Whereas the [[motherCastration complex]] and [[child]] serves to institute the first [[dialecticOedipus complex]] in revolve around the child's life, which, although it is an [[phallus|imaginary]] [[dialecticphallus]], already paves the way towards the question of [[symbolicsexual difference]], since an revolves around [[imaginaryphallus|symbolic phallus]] element is circulated in much the same way a [[signifier]] (the . The [[phallus]] becomes an "has no corresponding [[imaginarywoman|female]] [[signifier]]; ")the phallus is a symbol to which there is no correspondent, no equivalent. Thus [[Lacan]]It's formulations on the [[phallus|imaginary phallus] in the [[seminar]] a matter of 1956-7 are accompanied by statements that the [[phallus]] is also a [[symbolic]] [[object]]<ref>{{S4}} p. 152</ref> and that dissymmetry in the [[phallus]] is a [[signifier]].'"<ref>{{S4S3}} p. 191176</ref> The idea that the Both [[phallus]] is a [[signifiersexual difference|male]] is taken up again and further developed in the 1957-8 [[seminarsexual difference|female]] and becomes the principle element of [[Lacansubject]]'s theory of the assume their [[phallussexual difference|sex]] thereafter; via the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is described as "the [[signifier]] of the [[desire]] of the [[Other]]",<ref>{{E}} p. 290</ref> and the [[signifier]] of ''[[jouissance]]''.<ref>{{E}} p. 320</ref>

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>

These arguments are stated in their most definitive form The [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is written ф in [[Lacan]]'s paper on "ian [[algebra]]. However, [[The Signification Lacan]] warns his students that the complexity of this [[symbol]] might be missed if they simply identify it with the Phallus[[phallus|symbolic phallus]]".<ref>{{LS8}} p. 296</ref> The [[symbol]] is more correctly [[understood]] as designating the "[[The Signification of the Phallusphallus|La signification du phallusphallic function]]." ''<ref>{{S8}} p. 298</ref> In the early 1970s [[ÉcritsLacan]]''. Paris: Seuil, 1966 incorporates this [[1958csymbol]]: 685-95 of the ["[phallus|phallic function]] in his [[The Signification of the Phallussexual difference|The signification formulae of the phallussexuation]]". Trans. Using predicate [[Alan Sheridanlogic]] ''to articulate the problems of [[Écrits: A Selectionsexual difference]]''. London: Tavistock, 1977; New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1977: 281-91[[Lacan]] devises two [[algebra|formulae]] for the [[sexual difference|masculine position]] and two [[algebra|formulae]] for the [[sexual difference|feminine position]].</ref><blockquote>The phallus is not a fantasy, if by that we mean an All four [[Imaginaryalgebra|formulae]] effect. Nor is it as such an object (part-, internal, good, bad, etc.). It is even less revolve around the organ, penis or clitoris[[phallus|phallic function]], that it symbolises. . . . The phallus is a signifier. . . . It which is here equivalent with the signifier intended to designate as a whole the effects function of the signified[[castration]].<ref>{{E}} p. 285</ref></blockquote>

Whereas the <!-- desire and signification. It is desire that [[Castration complexdrives]] and the process of [[Oedipus complexsymbolization]] revolve around . The phallus is the ultimate [[phallusObject of Desire|imaginary phallusobject 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 question phallus stands for that moment of rupture when the child is [[sexual differenceforced]] revolves around to recognize the desire of the other; of the mother. 'The mother is refused to the child in so far as a [[phallus|symbolic phallusprohibition]]falls on the child's desire to be what the mother desires' (Rose 1996a: 61). The [[phallus]] has no corresponding , therefore, always belongs somewhere else; it breaks the mother/child [[woman|femaledyad]] [[signifier]]; "and initiates the order of symbolic exchange. In this sense the phallus is a symbol to which there is no correspondent, no equivalentboth imaginary and symbolic. Itis imaginary in that it represents the object presumed to satisfy the mother's a matter of a dissymmetry desire; at the same [[time]], it is symbolic in that it stands in for the signifier.'"<ref>{{S3}} p. 176</ref> Both recognition that desire cannot be [[sexual difference|malesatisfied]] and . By breaking [[sexual differenceThe Imaginary|femalethe imaginary]] couple 'the phallus represents a moment of [[subjectdivision]][that “lack-in-being”]s assume their which re-enacts the fundamental [[sexual difference|sexsplitting]] via the of [[phallusThe Subject|symbolic phallusthe subject]]itself' (Rose 1996a: 63).As a presence in absence, a 'seeming' value, the phallus is a fraud . -->

<!--It is through the [[intervention]] of the [[Name]]-of-the-Father that [[The Imaginary|the imaginary]] [[unity]] between child and mother is broken. The father is assumed to possess something that the child lacks and it is this that the mother desires. It is important here though not to confuse the [[Name-of-the-Father]] with the actual father. The [[Name-of-the-father|Name-of-the-Father]] is a symbolic function that intrudes into the [[illusory]] [[world]] of the child andbreaks [[The Imaginary|the imaginary]] dyad of the mother and child. The child assumes that the father is one that [[satisfies]] the mother's desire and possesses the phallus. In this sense, argues Lacan, the [[Oedipus Complex|Oedipus complex]] involves an element of [[substitution]], that is to say, the substitution of one signifier, the desire of the mother, for [[another]], the [[Name-of-the-father|Name-of-the-Father]]. It is through this initial act of substitution that the process of signification begins and child enters the [[symbolic order]] as a subject of lack. It is also for this [[reason]] that Lacan describes the process of symbolization itself as 'phallic'. It is through the [[Name-of-the-father|Name-of-the-Father]] that the phallus is installed as the central organizing signifier of the [[unconscious]]. The phallus is the 'original' [[lost object]], 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 '[[exist]]' in its own [[right]] as a [[thing]], an object or a [[bodily]] organ. Let us look at this more closely. -->

Unlike <!-- Lacan equates the process of giving up the imaginary phallus with Freud's account of [[phallus|imaginary phalluscastration anxiety]], but he argues that the process of castration in Freud is more complicated than [[phallus|symbolic phalluspeople]] cannot be generally [[negation|negatedthink]], for on the . Castration involves not just an anxiety [[symbolicabout]] plane an [[losing one's penis but simultaneously the recognition of lack or absence]] . The child is just as much concerned about losing its own penis and simultaneously recognizes that the mother does not have a positive entity as a [[presence]]penis. The idea of the penis, therefore, becomes metonymically linked to the recognition of lack .<ref>{{E}} pIt 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 . 320</ref> Thus even Castration is not the [[womanfear]]that one has already lost, in the case of girls, who or will lose, in the case of boys, one's penis but rather [[lackThe Symbolic|the symbolic]]s 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 [[phallusThe Symbolic|the symbolic phallus]] in one way, can also be said father is seen to possess itthe phallus, since 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 having it there? His solution is the idea of the '[[symbolicveil]] '. The presence of the veil suggests that there is itself an object behind it, which the veil covers over, although this is only a form presumption on the part of having[[The Subject|the subject]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 153</ref> Conversely, In this way the veil enables the assumption perpetuation of the idea that the object [[phallus|symbolic phallusexists]] by . Thus, both boys and girls can have a relationship to the man is only possible phallus on the basis that it always remains veiled and out of reach. The phallus provides the prior assumption of vital link between --><!-- ==Phallic Jouissance== In his own seminar on [[female]] sexuality (1998), Lacan further specified what he meant by the term "[[castrationphallic jouissance]]. " He used the phallic signifier (Φ) in [[writing]] his "[[Lacanformulas]] goes on in 1961 to state that the of [[phallus|symbolic phallussexuation]] is ," which posit that which appears in every human being has to be on one side or the place other of the sexual [[lackdivide]] . A woman always has something of the phallus (she is not entirely [[signifiercastrated]] in ), 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 [[Otherformal]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 278-81</ref> It is no ordinary role of a [[signifiersupplement]] but , which adds to the [[realCastration Complex|castration complex]] the fact that "there is no sexual relation," as Lacan said, referring to the [[presenceimpossibility]] of writing an equation of the relationship between the sexes. --><!-- ===Criticisms of Lacan===Of all [[Lacan]]'s [[desireideas]] itself.<ref>{{S8}} p. 290</ref> In 1973 he states that , his concept of the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is "perhaps the signifier one which does not have a signified"has given rise to most controversy.<ref>{{S20}} pObjections to [[Lacan]]'s concept fall into two main groups. 75</ref>

The [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is written ф in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]]. HoweverFirstly, some [[Lacanfeminist]] warns his students writers have argued that the complexity of this privileged position [[symbolLacan]] might be missed if they simply identify it with accords to the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 296</ref> The [[symbol]] is more correctly understood as designating means that he merely repeats the "patriarchal gestures of [[phallus|phallic functionFreud]](e."<ref>{{S8}} pg. 298</ref> In the early 1970s [[Lacan]] incorporates this [[symbol]] of the [[phallus|phallic function]] in his [[sexual difference|formulae of sexuation]]Grosz, 1990). Using predicate logic to articulate the problems of Other feminists have defended [[sexual differenceLacan]], [[Lacan]] devises two [[algebra|formulae]] for arguing that his distinction between the [[sexual difference|masculine positionphallus]] and two the [[algebraphallus|formulaepenis]] provides a way of accounting for the [[sexual difference|feminine position]]. All four [[algebra|formulae]] revolve around the [[phallus|phallic function]], which is here equivalent with the function of irreducible to [[castrationbiology]](e.g. Mitchell and Rose, 1982).

===Criticisms of Lacan===Of all The second main objection to [[Lacan]]'s ideas, his concept of the [[phallus]] is perhaps the one which has given rise that put forward by [[Jacques Derrida]].<ref>Derrida, Jacques. (1975) "Le facteur de la vérité." ''The Post Card: From [[Socrates]] to most controversyFreud and Beyond''. Objections to 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 concept fall into two main groupsprotestations 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]].-->

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==

=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=====