Phallic jouissance

The subject is inherently divided and can never be satisfied. The subject is plagued by the anxiety that its jouissance - its pleasure or enjoyment - is never enough. The subject is driven by an inherent dissatisfaction and sense of insufficiency.

Phallic jouissance is the jouissance that fails us, that disappoints us. We constantly ahve the sense that there is something more; we do not know what this is, but we have the sense that it is there, and we want it. Phallic jouissance is that form of enjoyment that the subject experiences. The subject, even after it grasps its object of desire remains dissatisfied. The subject is disappointed and has a sense that its desire has not been fully satisfied. This sense of dissatisfaction that always leaves something wanting is precisely what Lacan calls phallic jouissance and defines the masculine structure. A masculine structure is characterized by turning the Other into an objet a, and mistakenly thinking that the object can fully satisfy its desire. Phallic jouissance is experienced by both men and women and is defined as phallic insofar as it is characterized by failure.