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Dialogues Between Feminists and Jacques Lacan on Female Hysteria and Femininity Katerina Catherine Daniel

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Dialogues Between Feminists and Jacques Lacan on Female Hysteria and Femininity Katerina Catherine Daniel Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 2009 Dialogues between Feminists and Jacques Lacan on Female Hysteria and Femininity Katerina Catherine Daniel Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Daniel, K. (2009). Dialogues between Feminists and Jacques Lacan on Female Hysteria and Femininity (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/455 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DIALOGUES BETWEEN FEMINISTS AND JACQUES LACAN ON FEMALE HYSTERIA AND FEMININITY A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Katerina (or Catherine) Daniel May 2009 Copyright by Katerina (or Catherine) Daniel 2009 DIALOGUES BETWEEN FEMINISTS AND JACQUES LACAN ON FEMALE HYSTERIA AND FEMININITY By Katerina (or Catherine) Daniel Approved Date: April 1, 2009 ______________________ ______________________ Bruce Fink, Ph.D. Suzanne Barnard, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Associate Professor of Psychology (Dissertation Director) (Committee Member) ______________________ ______________________ Terry Pulver, Ph.D. Daniel Burston, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist Chair, Psychology Department (Committee Member) Associate Professor of Psychology ______________________ Ralph Pearson, Ph.D. Provost/Academic Vice President McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Professor of History iii ABSTRACT DIALOGUES BETWEEN FEMINISTS AND JACQUES LACAN ON FEMALE HYSTERIA AND FEMININITY By Katerina (or Catherine) Daniel May 2009 Dissertation Supervised by Bruce Fink, Ph.D. This theoretical dissertation aims to initiate a dialogue between Lacan and Irigaray, Butler, and poststructuralist Anglophone feminists on the relationship between hysteria and femininity. The very existence of hysteria has been called into question by the majority of Anglophone feminists, who have criticized its diagnostic proliferation, claiming that it has negative implications for social change and has played a central part in women’s oppression. The Anglophone feminist tradition views Lacanian psychoanalytic theories of sexuation and hysteria with a critical eye, arguing that Lacan’s oeuvre is another version of patriarchal discourse, another reductionistic paradigm of female suffering, and another essentialist scheme that theorizes the subject within the normative realities of sexual difference and psychopathology. I argue that Anglophone feminism theorizes the unconscious superficially and fails to conceptualize how women’s unconscious desires sustain rather than subvert patriarchy. Whereas feminists challenge traditional assumptions about women’s subjectivity and make a substantial contribution to our knowledge about the oppressions brought on by patriarchal discourses, they misread Lacan’s iv revisionist approach to Freud and undermine Lacan’s theoretical contributions regarding the role of unconscious desire and the real in the constitution of subjectivity. Hence, they fail to explain how the female hysteric, as a victim of patriarchal discourses, preserves the dominance of patriarchy. In this dissertation, I elucidate the structural differences between female hysteria and femininity. I assume that the subject has a particular structural relationship with the Other, and take Lacan’s and Irigaray’s oeuvres as points of departure to articulate an ethics of feminine desire and jouissance and the differences between how a woman maintains her victimhood by being dominated by the law and how a woman achieves her emancipated potentialities by realizing her infinities in relation to the law. v To my mentors, friends, and family, with gratitude! vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply indebted to Dr. Bruce Fink for being a unique and sublime mentor throughout my studies at Duquesne University. I have no words to describe my gratitude to him as his mentorship exceeded expectations and allowed me to see a different kind of reality, a different kind of logic! I can only find myself tearful when I think about how he took me under his wing and how honored I have been to get to know such an exceptional and astute individual. Dr. Fink rescued that desire of mine for knowledge. He showed me what it means to love knowledge. He was an outstanding interlocutor and editor for this dissertation. I am honored I had my two Lacanian psychoanalytically oriented readers: Dr. Terry Pulver and Dr. Suzanne Barnard. Dr. Pulver was an admirable clinical supervisor and a very kind and encouraging individual. I am deeply grateful to him for sharing his knowledge of Lacan and Freud with me and for providing rigorous feedback on this dissertation. Dr. Barnard offered feedback at the beginning stages of this work which helped my thinking evolve throughout the writing process. My previous mentor, Dr. Lisa Cosgrove, from the University of Massachusetts at Boston, first introduced me to feminism and poststructuralism. I owe her so much for the knowledge she transferred to me and for her precious support. I am deeply grateful to all of my professors and supervisors in the Department of Clinical Psychology at Duquesne University for their incredible teachings and invaluable support they have given me during my studies at Duquesne University. I am especially thankful to Drs. Daniel Burston, Russell Walsh, Constance Fischer, Roger Brooke, Paul Richer, Michael Sipiora, Eva Simms, Leswin Laubsher, Martin Packer, and Jessie Goiccechea. I am also thankful to Marilyn Henline, Norma Coleman, and Linda Pasqualino for being incredibly kind. vii My gratitude goes to Sipho Mbuqe, Rong-Bang Peng, Michael Miller, Jamie Ghany, and Leora Bernstein for their strange friendship, intellectualism, and rich cultural diversity. Many thanks to Daniel Warner, Joshua Gregson, and Tanya Brown for their share of friendliness and knowledge. Thanks too to Tom Sparrow, Stephanie Swales, and Nathan Clendenin for making recommendations to me about various resources. I am deeply thankful to Dr. Daniel Martino who became my soothing and gentle friend at the Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center and provided incredible encouragement and moral support to write this dissertation—his gentleness, intellectualism, and kindness meant a lot. My deep appreciation also goes to the Board of the Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center for their support. Drs. Daniel Burston, Laverna Saunders, Albert Labriola, and David Smith, C.S.Sp., granted me financial support during my dissertation writing process. I am also very thankful to Mr. Tom White, Ms. Susan Wadsworth-Booth, and Drs. Eva Simms, Jim Swindal, Richard Rojcewicz, and Ron Arnett. Each Board Member had much to say and show about the paradoxical truths of human relationships. So many thanks to Dr. Robert Coufal for being a kind clinical supervisor and for his teachings on perversions and criminal justice. Gerta Aspasia Zhebo, my beloved friend, has given me incredible inspirations in life and meticulous support when I needed it most. I am thankful to Mr. Timothy McCarthy for being my good American friend and for sharing his unique wisdom on the simplicities of life. Thanks too to Wendy Custer for her friendship. My family has been the alpha and the omega of support throughout my entire studies in the United States. Their love, humbleness, and heroic acts exceeded common logic. My thanks go to my deceased father, Panayioti, and to my mother, Popi, brother, George, and uncles, Vaggeli and Stamati. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… iv Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… vi Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………………………………. vii List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………………………… xi Introduction 1 1. Feminists on Women and Hysteria 12 1.1 Irigaray’s Theory of Femininity and Psychoanalytic Critiques………………………………………………………………………………… 12 1.2 Butler’s Theory of Femininity and Psychoanalytic Critiques…………………………………………………………………………………. 24 1.3 Feminist Descriptions of Female Hysteria and the Question of Feminine Desire…………………………………………………………………….. 31 1.4 The Feminist (Mis)use of Lacanian Theory……………………………………………………………………………………. 37 1.5 Towards a Dialogue between Feminism and Lacan………………………………………………………………………………………. 45 2. The Ethics of Feminine Desire and Jouissance 47 2.1 What Do a Woman and a Tortoise Have in Common?.................................................................... 47 2.2 Sexuation………………………………………………………………………………. 53 2.21 The Phallus……………………………………………………… 57 2.22 Masculinity and Femininity……………………………… 73 ix 2.3 Ethics…………………………………………………………….. 78 3. Lacan’s Subversions of Neo-Freudian Theories of Hysteria 81 4. A Lacanian Case Formulation of a Female Hysteric 99 4.1 Description of the Case…………………………………………………………. 100 4.11 Presenting Problems………………………………………. 100 4.12 Family History………………………………………………… 103 4.13 Personal History……………………………………………… 107 4.14 A Fantasy, a Dream, and a Tale……………………. 109 4.2 A Lacanian Case Formulation……………………………………………….. 111 4.21 The Paradoxes of Speech………………………………. 111 4.22 Metaphorical and Metonymic Functions in the Dream………………………………………………….. 124 4.23 Being Sad, Being the Phallus, and Seeking Love……………………………………………………………….
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