Abstract

FARIA, Michele Roman. What is a woman?: Clinic answers to the problem of femininity. Psyche (Sao Paulo) [online]. 2004, vol.8, n.13, pp. 101-108. ISSN 1415-1138.

Since Freud, femininity has been placed in psychoanalysis as an enigma that Oedipus theory was not able to solve. These impasses were revalued by Lacan, who showed how the existence of an the unique element that orders the construction of sexuality, namely the phallus, gives rise to an insoluble problem for the femininity, at least from the point of view of the symbolic field and the juissance that it allows to define. Lacan proposes a way out of the impasse by taking in consideration another type of juissance, that determines the feminine. Our paper aims at discussing the clinical consequences of Freud's and Lacan's theories about femininity and how theses impasses of femininity can be observed in psychoanalytic treatment.

Keywords : Woman; Femininity; Phallus; Psychoanalysis; Psychoanalytical treatment.

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