Sexuality, gender and identity: Questions for psychoanalysis

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze in what way the notions of sexuality, gender and identity pose questions to psychoanalysis, as they problematize forms of subjectivation present in their discursive practice. Taking into account Foucault’s analysis of the formation of the device of sexuality and Butler’s discussion on the problem of identity in gender discussions, we intend to situate the place of the Oedipus complex in the constitution of the subject in psychoanalysis and Freud’s critique of the moralization of sexuality in modern experience. To conclude, based on the notions of vulnerability and dispossession of the self, we revisit the psychoanalytic concepts of helplessness and femininity to reflect on the importance of a thinking on otherness for psychoanalytic practice.