View source for Castration complex

{{Topp}}[[complexe]] de castration{{Bottom}}
{{#seo:
 |title=Castration Complex in Psychoanalysis
 |title_mode=append
 |keywords=castration complex, Lacan, Freud, phallus, Oedipus
 |description=The castration complex is the child's discovery of sexual difference and lack, central to the resolution of the Oedipus complex.
}}


==Sigmund Freud==
===Sexual Difference===
[[Freud]] first described the [[castration complex]] in 1908, arguing that the [[child]] - on discovering the [[biology|anatomical]] [[sexual difference|difference between the sexes]] -- the [[presence]] or [[absence]] of the [[penis]] - makes the assumption that this [[sexual difference|difference]] is due to the [[female]]'s [[penis]] having been cut off.<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|On the Sexual Theories of Children]]". 1908. [[SE]] IX. p. 207</ref> In his view, the [[castration complex]] is the [[moment]] when one "[[castration complex|infantile theory]]" -- that every [[human]] [[being]] has a [[penis]] -- is replaced by a new one -- that [[female]]s have been [[castrated]]. The consequences of this new [[castration complex|infantile theory]] are different in the [[boy]] and in the [[girl]]. The [[boy]] fears that his own [[penis]] will be cut off by the [[father]] ([[castration]] [[anxiety]]), while the [[girl]] sees herself as already castrated (by the [[mother]]) and attempts to deny this or to compensate for it by seeking a [[child]] as a [[substitute]] for the [[penis]].  These [[unconscious]] representations, in [[phantasy]], cover over the lack at the heart of being in the Other and allow the subject to imagine (feel) as though they are special or fulfilled (not [[lacking]]).  Fear of [[psychic]] castration is thus met with a phantasy which positions the subject as not lacking which props up the ego as being of central importance.

===Phallic Phase===
The [[castration complex]] affects both [[sex]]es because its [[appearance]] is closely linked with the [[castration complex|phallic phase]], a moment of [[development|psychosexual development]] when the [[child]], whether [[boy]] or [[girl]], [[knows]] only one [[penis|genital organ]] - the [[male]] one.  This [[phase]] is also known as the [[castration complex|infantile genital organisation]] because it is the first moment when the [[drive|partial drive]]s are [[unified]] under the primacy of the [[genital]] organs.  It thus anticipates the [[genital|genital organisation]] proper which arises at [[development|puberty]], when the [[subject]] is aware of both the [[male]] and the [[female]] [[biology|sexual organ]]s.<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Infantile Genital Organization]]." 1923. [[SE]] XIX. p. 141</ref>

===Oedipus Complex===
[[Freud]] argued that the [[castration complex]] is closely linked to the [[Oedipus complex]], but that its [[role]] in the [[Oedipus complex]] is different for the [[boy]] and the [[girl]]. In the [[case]] of the [[boy]], the [[castration complex]] is the point of exit from the [[Oedipus complex]], its terminal crisis; because of his [[fear]] of [[castration]] -- often aroused by a [[fear|threat]] -- the [[boy]] renounces his [[desire]] for the [[mother]] and thus enters the [[development|latency period]]. In the case of the [[girl]], the [[castration complex]] is the point of entry into the [[Oedipus complex]]; it is her resentment of the [[mother]], whom she blames for depriving her of the [[penis]], that causes her to redirect her [[libido|libidinal]] [[desire]]s away from the [[mother]] and onto the [[father]]. Because of this [[sexual difference|difference]], in the case of the [[girl]] the [[Oedipus complex]] has no definitive terminal crisis comparable to the [[boy]]'s.<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Dissolution of the Oedipus Complex]]," 1924. [[SE]] XIX p. 173</ref>

<!-- ===Treatment=== -->
<!-- [[Freud]] came to see the [[castration complex]] as a [[universal]] phenomenon, one which is rooted in a basic "[[rejection]] of [[femininity]]" (''Ablehnung der Weiblich-keit''). It is encountered in every [[subject]], and represents the ultimate [[limit]] beyond which [[psychoanalytic treatment]] cannot go.<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Analysis Terminable and Interminable]]," 1937. [[SE]] XXIII. p. 211</ref>-->

==Jacques Lacan==
<!-- ===Fantasy of the Mutilation of the Penis=== -->
<!-- [[Lacan]] -- who talks more often [[about]] "[[castration]]" than the "[[castration complex]]" -- does not discuss the [[castration complex]] very much in his early [[work]]. He dedicates a few paragraphs to it in his article on the [[family]], where he follows [[Freud]] in [[stating]] that [[castration]] is first and foremost a [[fantasy]] of the mutilation of the [[penis]]. [[Lacan]] [[links]] this [[fantasy]] with a [[whole]] series of [[fantasy|fantasies]] of [[bodily]] dismemberment which originate in the [[image]] of the [[fragmented body]]; this [[image]] is contemporary with the [[mirror stage]] (six to eighteen months), and it is only much later that these [[fantasy|fantasies]] of dismemberment coalesce around the specific [[fantasy]] of [[castration]].<ref>{{1938}} p. 44</ref> -->

===Symbolic Lack of an Imaginary Object===
It is not until the mid-1950s that the [[castration complex]] comes to play a prominent role in [[Lacan]]'s [[seminars|teaching]], primarily in [[the seminar of 1956-7]]. It is in this [[seminar]] that [[Lacan]] [[identifies]] [[castration complex|castration]] as one of [[three]] forms of "[[lack|lack of object]]", the [[others]] being [[frustration]] and [[privation]]. Unlike [[frustration]] -- which is an [[imaginary]] [[lack]] of a [[real]] [[object]] -- and [[privation]] -- which is a [[real]] [[lack]] of a [[symbolic]] [[object]], [[castration complex|castration]] is defined by [[Lacan]] as a [[symbolic]] [[lack]] of an [[imaginary]] [[object]]; [[castration complex|castration]] does not bear on the [[penis]] as a [[real]] [[biology|organ]], but on the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 219</ref> [[Lacan]]'s account of the [[castration complex]] is thus raised out of the [[dimension]] of simple [[biology]] or [[biology|anatomy]]: 

<blockquote>"It is insoluble by any reduction to [[biological]] givens."<ref>{{E}} p. 282</ref></blockquote>

===Oedipus Complex===
Following [[Freud]], [[Lacan]] argues that the [[castration complex]] is the pivot on which the whole [[Oedipus complex]] turns.<ref>{{S4}} p. 216</ref> However, whereas [[Freud]] argues that these two [[complex]]es are articulated differently in [[boy]]s and [[girl]]s, [[Lacan]] argues that the [[castration complex]] always denotes the final moment of the [[Oedipus complex]] in both [[sexes]]. 

[[Lacan]] [[divides]] the [[Oedipus complex]] into three "[[Oedipus complex|times]]".<ref>{{S5}}; [[Seminar]] of 22 January 1958</ref>
# In the first [[time]], the [[child]] perceives that the [[mother]] [[desire]]s something beyond the [[child]] himself - namely, the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] -- and then tries to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]] (see [[preoedipal phase]]).
# In the second time, the [[imaginary]] [[father]] intervenes to deprive the [[mother]] of her [[object]] by promulgating the [[incest taboo]]; properly [[speaking]], this is not [[castration complex|castration]] but [[privation]]. 
# [[castration complex|Castration]] is only realized in the [[third]] and final time, which represents the "[[dissolution]]" of the [[Oedipus complex]]. It is then that the [[real]] [[father]] intervenes by showing that he really possesses the [[phallus]], in such a way that the [[child]] is [[forced]] to abandon his attempts to be the [[phallus]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 208-9, 227</ref>

<!-- ==Two Operations== -->
<!-- From this account of the [[Oedipus complex]], it is clear that [[Lacan]] uses the term "[[castration]]" to refer to two different operations. -->
<!-- ===Castration of the Mother===
<!-- [[Lacan]] often uses the term "[[castration complex|castration]]" to [[speak]] of the [[castration complex|castration]] -- or, more precisely, the "[[privation]]" -- of the [[mother]]. In the [[first time]] of the [[Oedipus complex]], "the mother is considered, by both sexes, as possessing the phallus, as the [[phallic]] mother."<ref>{{E}} p.282</ref>  By promulgating the [[incest taboo]] in the [[second time]], the [[imaginary]] [[father]] is seen to deprive her of this [[phallus]]. However, [[Lacan]] himself often uses these [[terms]] interchangeably, speaking both of the [[privation]] of the [[mother]] and of her [[castration complex|castration]].
<!-- ===Castration of [[the Subject]]===  -->
<!-- This is [[castration complex|castration]] proper, in the [[sense]] of being a [[symbolic]] [[act]] which bears on an [[imaginary]] [[object]]. Whereas the [[castration complex|castration]]/[[privation]] of the [[mother]] which comes about in the second time of the [[Oedipus complex]] negates the verb "to have" -- the [[mother]] does not have the [[phallus]], the [[castration complex|castration]] of the [[subject]] in the [[third time]] of the [[Oedipus complex]] negates the verb "to be" -- the [[subject]] must [[renounce]] his attempts to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]]. -->

The [[subject]] must renounce his attempts to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]].  In renouncing his attempts to be the [[object]] of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], the [[subject]] gives up a certain ''[[jouissance]]'' which is never regained despite all attempts to do so:
<blockquote>"Castration means that ''jouissance'' must be refused so that it can be reached on the inverted ladder (''l'èchelle renversè'') of the [[Law]] of [[desire]]."<ref>{{E}} p. 324</ref></blockquote>

This applies equally to [[boy]]s and [[girl]]s:
<blockquote>"[This] [[relationship]] to the phallus .  . . is established without [[regard]] to the [[anatomical]] [[difference]] of the sexes."<ref>{{E}} p. 282</ref></blockquote>

<!-- ====Lack==== -->
On a more fundamental level, the term [[castration complex|castration]] may also refer not to an "operation" -- the result of an [[intervention]] by the [[imaginary]] or [[real]] [[father]] -- but to a [[state]] of [[lack]] which already [[exists]] in the [[mother]] prior to the [[subject]]'s [[birth]]. This [[lack]] is evident in her own [[desire]], which the [[subject]] perceives as a [[desire]] for the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]]. That is, the [[subject]] realises at a very early [[stage]] that the [[mother]] is not [[lack|complete]] and [[autonomy|self-sufficient]] in herself, nor fully [[satisfied]] with her [[child]] (the [[subject]] himself), but [[desire]]s something else. This is the [[subject]]'s first [[perception]] that the [[Other]] is not [[lack|complete]] but [[lack]]ing.

<!-- 
==="Normalizing Effect"=== 
The [[castration complex]] presents the [[subject]] with a [[choice]]: to accept [[castration complex|castration]] or to deny it. [[Lacan]] argues that it is only by accepting (or "assuming") [[castration complex|castration]] that the [[subject]] can reach a degree of [[psyche|psychic]] [[perversion|normality]]. In other [[words]], the assumption of [[castration complex|castration]] has a "[[normalizing effect]]". This [[normalising effect]] is to be [[understood]] in terms of both [[psychopathology]] ([[clinic]]al [[structure]]s and [[symptom]]s) and [[sexual identity]].
-->
===Clinical Structures===
It is the [[refusal]] of [[castration complex|castration]] that lies at the root of all [[neurosis|psychopathological]] [[structure]]s. However, since it is [[impossible]] to accept [[castration complex|castration]] entirely, a completely "normal" [[position]] is never achieved. The closest to such a position is the [[neurosis|neurotic]] [[structure]], but even here the [[subject]] still [[defends]] himself against the [[lack]] in the [[Other]] by repressing [[awareness]] of [[castration complex|castration]]. This prevents the [[neurotic]] from fully assuming his [[desire]], since "it is the assumption of castration that creates the lack upon which desire is instituted."<ref>{{Ec}} p. 852</ref>

A more radical [[defense]] against [[castration complex|castration]] than [[repression]] is [[disavowal]], which is at the root of the [[perversion|perverse]] [[structure]].  The [[psychotic]] takes the most extreme path of all; he completely repudiates [[castration complex|castration]], as if it had never existed.<ref>{{S1}} p. 53</ref> This [[repudiation]] of [[castration complex|symbolic castration]] leads to the [[return]] of [[castration complex|castration]] in the [[real]], such as in the [[form]] of [[hallucinations]] of [[fragmented body|dismemberment]] (as in the case of the [[Wolf Man]]) or even [[self]]-mutilation of the [[real]] [[genital|genital organ]]s.

<!-- 
====Perversion====
A more radical [[defense]] against [[castration complex|castration]] than [[repression]] is [[disavowal]], which is at the root of the [[perversion|perverse]] [[structure]]. 
-->
<!-- 
====Psychosis====
The [[psychotic]] takes the most extreme path of all; he completely repudiates [[castration complex|castration]], as if it had never existed.<ref>{{S1}} p. 53</ref> This repudiation of [[castration complex|symbolic castration]] leads to the return of [[castration complex|castration]] in the [[real]], such as in the form of [[hallucinations]] of [[fragmented body|dismemberment]] (as in the case of the [[Wolf Man]]) or even self-mutilation of the [[real]] [[genital|genital organ]]s.
-->
<!-- 
===Castration and Sexual Identity===
It is only by assuming [[castration complex|castration]] (in both senses) that the [[subject]] can take up a [[sexual difference|sexual position]] as a [[man]] or a [[woman]]. The different modalities of refusing [[castration complex|castration]] find expression in the various forms of [[perversion]].
-->
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Absence]]
* [[Biology]]
* [[Desire]]
* [[Development]]
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* [[Drive]]
* [[Fantasy]]
* [[Father]]
* [[Frustration]]
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* [[Lack]]
* [[Mother]]
* [[Neurosis]]
* [[Oedipus complex]]
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* [[Penis]]
* [[Perversion]]
* [[Phallus]]
* [[Privation]]
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* [[Psychosis]]
* [[Sexual difference]]
* [[Structure]]
* [[Treatment]]
{{Also}}

==References==
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[[Category:Sexuation and law]]
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