Édipo cego: a feminilidade para além do complexo edípico em Freud e Lacan

Abstract

The central idea of the research is based on working with Freud's writings about femininity and with the contributions provided by Lacanian theory regarding this theme. Texts were explored on the differences in the sexual and psychic constitution between men and women and how this influenced the notion of feminine for each of the two psychoanalysts. It was necessary to pay attention to the way both thought about the Oedipus complex, a key concept in Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis to understand the formation of the subject. In addition, through these readings, we sought to consider whether it makes sense to think that Lacan advanced in relation to Freud in some aspect when dealing with this theme or if a certain scope that already existed in Freud's work was preserved. In addition to Freud's and Lacan's texts, other authors who seek to understand femininity outside of a phallocentric logic were also explored within the psychoanalytic corpus. The first chapter deals with what Lacan elaborated about the Oedipus complex and how it had repercussions on concepts coined by him, such as phallic jouissance and supplementary jouissance. The intention was to articulate these concepts with the central theme of the research, that is, with the psychoanalytical construction of the notion of feminine. For that, it was also essential to analyse the Lacanian table of sexuation. The second chapter consists of a return to Freud's studies, which elaborate his conception of femininity from theories referring to castration, penis envy and the superego. A clinical case of Freud was also discussed – the Dora case – in order to present the repercussion that the writings on hysteria had on clinical practice and the investigation of the woman's subjectivation process, especially with regard to the problem of the oedipalization of hysteria. Thus, an attempt was made to point to some limits of the conception of the feminine in both Lacan and Freud, seeking to delineate elements that are part of a debate that is still central to psychoanalysis.