The Phallus and the Mask

More about the book

Psychoanalysts from all schools - even when they are women - have often dismissed and sometimes openly disapproved of feminism and its critique of male universalism. While other disciplines, like sociology and anthropology, have welcomed the contributions of feminist theory, psychoanalysis remains hindered by its own patriarchal unconscious. This book intends to cast light on the unthought of Freudian and Lacanian theory, by way of an analysis of the concept of femininity. The aim is to show how phallocentrism functions as a screen which obscures the real relationships between the sexes, the meaning of desire and the understanding of sexual difference. Psychoanalysts from all schools - even when they are women - have often dismissed and sometimes openly disapproved of feminism and its critique of male universalism. While other disciplines, like sociology and anthropology, have welcomed the contributions of feminist theory, psychoanalysis remains hindered by its own patriarchal unconscious. This book intends to cast light on the unthought of Freudian and Lacanian theory, by way of an analysis of the concept of femininity. The aim is to show how phallocentrism functions as a screen which obscures the real relationships between the sexes, the meaning of desire and the understanding of sexual difference.