Abstract

ZAFIROPOULOS, Markos. The Freudian theory on femininity: from Freud to Lacan.Translated byElisa Rennó dos Mares Guia,  Paulo Roberto Ceccarelli. Reverso [online]. 2009, vol.31, n.58, pp. 15-24. ISSN 0102-7395.

In this text, a reflection on femininity is proposed. Initially, the author presents his interpretation of the principle Freudian positions in relation to femininity and to the woman’s desire (wish). According to Freud, maternity would fulfill and complete the woman, above all if her child were of the masculine sex. At a second moment, the author presents Lacan’s contributions on the theme. Around the dialectic argument on being the phallus or having one, the author demonstrates how Lacan modified the Freudian register of satisfaction (having a penis from which to withdraw pleasu-re) focussing, instead, on the the register of enjoyment. According to Lacan, the register of being a woman is not related to satisfaction, rather to wishing and desiring. The register of desire is the opposite of that of satisfaction, as we can understand being satisfied as the opposite of desiring or wishing. This in no way means that the woman does not want to be a mother, but that when she does become a mother, this does not fulfill her womanly desire to be a woman, even when and if, as we have observed, her baby can function as an object of satisfaction as a mother.

Keywords : Femininity; Desire; Édipo; Phallus.

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