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The Feminine and the Pubertarian: The Pubertarian Novelty According to Freud and Lacan

Received: 5 December 2020     Accepted: 14 December 2020     Published: 7 August 2021
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Abstract

Countless authors have attempted to theorize the passage from the infantile to the juvenile. This passage is not without consequence, as shown by the changes in the semiological and nosological fields, corroborated by the infantile amnesia subsequent to this phase. We propose to approach this question through a re-reading of Freud’s texts. We shall highlight how Freud’s attempt at qualifying infantile sexuality led him to define more and more clearly what distinguishes it from juvenile sexuality; nevertheless he failed to define the threshold that separates them. Thus, on the one hand he reached the threshold of the impossible whilst on the other, and despite himself, he indicated viable clues to its potential theorization. To Freud, this impossibility constituted an impasse at the time. Contributions from linguistics and structuralism allowed for a theoretical opening towards it. To Lacan, it characterizes the Real, the Other jouissance (specific to woman) and the Other’s lack signifier S (Ⱥ). We shall conclude that the pubertarian novelty is the effect - brought by the Real - of the body’s physiological change when it becomes pubertarian. Our hypothesis is in accordance with what Freud had identified as proper to puberty, namely “the displacement of erogenous zones from the clitoris to the vagina”. We may call this effect the advent of the Feminine, vector of the Other sex, which cannot be inscribed in the infantile, phallocentric world. In other words, it is a bodily experience that has no equivalent in the Symbolic realm. Lacan translated this experience into “there is no signifier to woman’s sex”. This Feminine (the capital F indicates its non-inscription in the Symbolic realm) will, during the time of adolescence, find a formalization - not via a signifier which is defaulted but via an object present in reality (which can be the Other sex’s other as much as any addictive, source of jouissance object).

Published in American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience (Volume 9, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.13
Page(s) 90-97
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Pubertarian Novelty, Adolescence, Feminine, Freud, Lacan

References
[1] André, S. (1999). What does a woman want? New York: Other Press.
[2] Freud, S. (1901-1905). A Case of Hysteria, Three Essays on Sexuality and Other Works. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume VII.
[3] Freud, S. (1905). Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality.
[4] Freud, S. (1908). On the Sexual Theories of Children. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume IX (1906-1908): Jensen's ‘Gradiva’ and Other Works, 205-226.
[5] Freud, S. (1917). On Transformations of Instinct as Exemplified in Anal Erotism. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVII (1917-1919): An Infantile Neurosis and Other Works, 125-134.
[6] Freud, S. (1923). The Infantile Sexual Organization.
[7] Freud, S. (1924). The Dissolution of the Oedipus Complex. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XIX (1923-1925): The Ego and the Id and Other Works, 171-180.
[8] Freud, S. (1931). Female Sexuality. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XXI (1927- 1931): The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and its Discontents, and Other Works, 221-244.
[9] Freud, S. (1933). New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XXII (1932-1936): New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis and Other Works, 1-182.
[10] Freud, S. (1977). La vie sexuelle. Paris: PUF.
[11] Hoffmann, C., Lauru, D. & Pickman, C-N. (1999). Problématiques adolescentes et direction de la cure. Toulouse: Eres.
[12] Gutton, P. (2013). Le Pubertaire. Paris: PUF.
[13] Lacan, J. (1997). The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book III - The Psychosis (1955-1956). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
[14] Lacan, J. (1998) The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book XX – Encore (1972-1973). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
[15] Lacan J., La Troisieme: English Translation Yolande Szczech, King's College London, August 2016 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307210365.
[16] Lacan, J. (2018). The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book XIX -... Or Worse (1971-1972). Cambridge: Polity Books.
[17] Ouvry, O. «Le concept de ‘‘Complémentarité des sexes’’, intérêt pour une spécificité métapsychologique de l’Adolescence», 1998. Doctorate thesis, University of Paris 7 (non published).
[18] Perret-Catipovic M., Ladame F. (1997). Adolescence et psychanalyse: une histoire. Paris: Delachaux et Niestlé.
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    Olivier Ouvry. (2021). The Feminine and the Pubertarian: The Pubertarian Novelty According to Freud and Lacan. American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 9(3), 90-97. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.13

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    Olivier Ouvry. The Feminine and the Pubertarian: The Pubertarian Novelty According to Freud and Lacan. Am. J. Psychiatry Neurosci. 2021, 9(3), 90-97. doi: 10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.13

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    AMA Style

    Olivier Ouvry. The Feminine and the Pubertarian: The Pubertarian Novelty According to Freud and Lacan. Am J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2021;9(3):90-97. doi: 10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.13,
      author = {Olivier Ouvry},
      title = {The Feminine and the Pubertarian: The Pubertarian Novelty According to Freud and Lacan},
      journal = {American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience},
      volume = {9},
      number = {3},
      pages = {90-97},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajpn.20210903.13},
      abstract = {Countless authors have attempted to theorize the passage from the infantile to the juvenile. This passage is not without consequence, as shown by the changes in the semiological and nosological fields, corroborated by the infantile amnesia subsequent to this phase. We propose to approach this question through a re-reading of Freud’s texts. We shall highlight how Freud’s attempt at qualifying infantile sexuality led him to define more and more clearly what distinguishes it from juvenile sexuality; nevertheless he failed to define the threshold that separates them. Thus, on the one hand he reached the threshold of the impossible whilst on the other, and despite himself, he indicated viable clues to its potential theorization. To Freud, this impossibility constituted an impasse at the time. Contributions from linguistics and structuralism allowed for a theoretical opening towards it. To Lacan, it characterizes the Real, the Other jouissance (specific to woman) and the Other’s lack signifier S (Ⱥ). We shall conclude that the pubertarian novelty is the effect - brought by the Real - of the body’s physiological change when it becomes pubertarian. Our hypothesis is in accordance with what Freud had identified as proper to puberty, namely “the displacement of erogenous zones from the clitoris to the vagina”. We may call this effect the advent of the Feminine, vector of the Other sex, which cannot be inscribed in the infantile, phallocentric world. In other words, it is a bodily experience that has no equivalent in the Symbolic realm. Lacan translated this experience into “there is no signifier to woman’s sex”. This Feminine (the capital F indicates its non-inscription in the Symbolic realm) will, during the time of adolescence, find a formalization - not via a signifier which is defaulted but via an object present in reality (which can be the Other sex’s other as much as any addictive, source of jouissance object).},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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Author Information
  • Laboratory UTRPP EA 4403, University Sorbonne-Paris-Nord, Paris, France

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