Changes

[[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>  ===Castration Anxiety / Penis Envy===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]] ([[penis envy]]).

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>

<!-- ===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>-->

<!-- ===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> -->

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]]:

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.

# [[castration complex|Castration]] is only realised 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 posesses 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]].  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:-->

====Lack of the Mother====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.

A more radical [[defencedefense]] against [[castration complex|castration]] than [[repression]] is [[disavowal]], which is at the root of the [[perversion|perverse]] [[structure]].