Psychoanalysis and Sexuation from Clinic to Culture: Reading Lacan with Other Theorists on Sex/Gender Constitution

Abstract

This paper explores the complex interplay between psychoanalysis, sexuation, and cultural constructions of sex/gender constitution through a critical engagement with Jacques Lacan and other theorists. Drawing on Freud’s early work on sexuality and its subsequent reinterpretation by Lacan, the study examines how the symbolic order and the Name-of-the-Father constitute the normative binary sex/gender. It traces the evolution of gender theories, from Stoller’s distinction between sex and gender to Butler’s performative critique, demonstrating how the Lacanian notion of sexuation challenges biological determinism by situating sexuality within linguistic and cultural frameworks. By engaging with Foucault’s concept of discourse and power, the paper interrogates the ideological foundations of sex and gender. It also questions how normative structures regulate desire. The study further examines the possibility of subverting these regulatory frameworks through performativity and re-signification, questioning whether an alternative conceptualization of subjectivity can emerge beyond the phallogocentric order. In doing so, it contributes to contemporary debates on gender, sexuality, and psychoanalytic theory, offering a nuanced understanding of how identities are constructed, maintained, and potentially transformed.