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In Psychoanalysis, Gender, and Sexualities: From Feminism to Trans*, Lacanian scholars and psychoanalysts Patricia Gherovici and Manya Steinkoler bring together 18 contributors from around the world to examine the evolving theories of sexuality, sex, and gender.
The first five chapters offer a thoughtful review of foundational psychoanalytic theory, revisiting the work of Freud, Ferenczi, and Lacan on sexual development. In Chapter 1, Tim Dean explores Freud's correspondence with Wilhelm Fliess, particularly the provocative assertion: “I am accustoming myself to the idea of regarding every sexual act as a process in which four persons are involved.” In Chapter 2, “Glôssa and ‘Counter-Will,‘” Elisa Marder analyzes Freud's concept of the hysterical and unconscious will through a feminist lens.
Chapter 3, by Darian Leader and titled “The Gender Question from Freud to Lacan,” could stand alone as an introductory overview, covering not only Freud and Lacan but also Abraham, Klein, Horney, and Ernest Jones. Next, Jamieson Webster and Marcus Coelen explore how Ferenczi and Lacan diverged from Freud in “Ferenczi's Thalassa and Lacan's Lamella.” The section concludes with Geneviève Morel's chapter, which employs Althusser's concept of interpellation to explore gender as a theoretical construct.
Chapters 6 through 10 begin to interrogate Lacan's theory of sexuation and incorporate key feminist critiques. These chapters revisit Freud's concept of repetition compulsion, introduce the work of thinkers like
Lee Edelman, Julia Kristeva, and Jean Laplanche, and explore anthropology's relevance to psychoanalysis.
In Chapter 6, Eve Watson examines phantasy through both psychoanalytic and queer theory frameworks, provocatively suggesting that jouissance may be social: “Cruising and barebacking, in effect, localize jouissance as the sexual jouissance of everyone involved, as well as the limitless jouissance ascribed to the Other.” Ray O'Neill then weaves the lives of two sons of besotte