Beyond Castration: Recognizing Female Desire and Subjectivity in the Oedipus Complex

Date
2012
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Swarthmore College. Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology
Type
Thesis (B.A.)
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
en_US
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Full copyright to this work is retained by the student author. It may only be used for non-commercial, research, and educational purposes. All other uses are restricted.
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Terms of Use
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
In this thesis, I argue that while Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, proposes a compelling theory of gender, his model of the pre-Oedipal and Oedipal stages of psychosexual development does not adequately address female desire or subjectivity. I examine Freud's writings on infant sexuality as well as contemporary feminist psychoanalytic theorists like Nancy Chodorow and Jessica Benjamin. I also analyze the works of French feminist theorists like Helene Cixous and Luce Irigaray, as well as Bulgarian theorist Julia Kristeva. The above authors are read through a Lacanian framework, which entails interrogating structural positions like male and female, mother and father. I believe that Freud's theories of sexual development devalue female sexuality and expressions of femininity by placing all persons biologically female in the role of one "castrated." Freud claimed that in being born with a penis, boys and men possessed a power and desire that girls and women necessarily lack, and considers this lack appropriate even as he saw it lead to pathology. I propose that these biological claims of Freud's are incorrect and that he did not give enough credence to social influences. I conclude that symbolic representation of female personhood and pleasure in the general culture are integral. In the 21st century, narrative spaces that include and are created by women have multiplied dramatically, but these spaces must be protected in turn by political representation if women are to enjoy the full personhood that classic psychoanalytic theory has granted exclusively to men.
Description
Citation