Dilemma of Unconscious, Jouissance and Phallus: a Psychoanalytical Study of Gender and Identity

JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS

ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020

DILEMMA OF UNCONSCIOUS, JOUISSANCE AND PHALLUS: A PSYCHOANALYTICAL STUDY OF GENDER AND IDENTITY

Dr. Nipun Chaudhary

Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Lovely Professional University, India

Received: 14 April 2020 Revised and Accepted: 8 August 2020

ABSTRACT: Lacan escalates his insistence that woman is not a solidified or rigid entity rather she flows like the flow of the liquid and the rush of the feminine flow perforates masculine and garbed solidity of phallic prick and intensifies the fear of castration for the male. Irigaray advances and ramifies Lacanian assertion by adding that the feminine flow may not simply be measured as the hysteric or unrestrained discharge of female vagina; on the contrary the discharge of feminine olfactory is a real challenge for masculine solidity. Concisely, the feminine jouissance flows in its own pleasure, without any consideration of defying the masculine solidity. However, the feminine jouissance is liberated, redemptive and narcissistic and above it exists as a gratuitous pure jouissance; redeemed of any desire to dominate.

KEYWORDS: Unconscious, Jouissance, Phallus Paper Freud undertook a challenge of dividing the human mind into three segments which, as a composite structure, is known as the topography of the human mind. Superego, ego, and id indulge in a dialogue to consummate the desire of the narcissistic ego which for Freud is the pleasure- seeking agency, i.e., id. According to Lacan, the ego is not a separate agency rather it is closely knit within the cathexis of libidinal energy. Love and illness transfer ego projection; Love transfers ego to the other body by cathexis. Illness is grounded in loss and mourning and, libido invests its cathexis in its own body to counter illness and loss. The narcissistic ego exists in a fluid shape: The amoeba- like ego does not establish libidinal relations with external objects distinct from itself. Its relations to its objects, like the „pseudopodia‟ of the amoeba, incorporate the object, transforming its own outlines to accommodate what is introjected (Grosz 33). Lacan affirms that the object of desire holds no real value or charm and no one repents the loss of the object, Lacanian (a) = (object)], rather the loss of the lack is repented. Desire in itself is autonomous and neutral but the object or more precisely, the [object petit], i.e., the object of desire is dependent upon the gaze of the other subject and inversely, the gaze is distorted by the desiring eye: In other words, an object a is always, by definition, perceived in a distorted way, because outside this distortion, “in itself”, it does not exist, since it is nothing but the embodiment, the materialization of this very distortion, of this surplus of confusion and perturbation introduced by desire into so-called objective reality (Zizek 12) Lacan postulates that the phallus can in no way contain and consummate female sexuality. Lacan contends that there is something in female sexuality which is always outside of the boundaries of the phallus and he puts forward the idea of a feminine jouissance. The term La jouissance means orgasmic sexual pleasure, bliss or rapture. Lacanʼs work highly impacted the feminist ideology based on the theory propounded by the school of psychoanalysis. Influenced by Lacan‟s treatment of human psychology, many critics have reported their disapproval against Freud‟s ideas of sexuality, and sustained interest in Lacanʼs theory of by focusing more on free play of symbolic derivations. Hence the human being desires for something as long as it is unapproachable. Originally the self is distorted, non-unified an ambivalence of imagination, an anamorphic subject, and above all, a desiring entity. Freud‟s theory of pleasure principal invited further discussion on the role of libido and the construction of adult life and propelled the idea that libido is the nucleus and original source for the psychic growth of an individual. Lacan added new insight to Freud‟s pleasure principle by employing the theory of surplus enjoyment to which we find an equivalent in Marx‟s theory of surplus value. In a materialistic context Marxian surplus value outsources capitalism which paves the way for persecution of the proletariat, on the other hand, Lacanian term surplus enjoyment is a step further to Freud‟s pleasure principle which breeds complexes and behaviours like masochism,

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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 sadism, and humiliation. The female body has become an embodiment of pleasure and the masculine society is perturbed by a wistful longing to revert back to the idyllic, natural woman; an uncorrupted, dumb, voiceless, an isolated entity „Such a reversal engenders, of course, a nostalgic yearning for the “natural” state in which things were only what they were, in which we perceived them straightforwardly, in which our gaze had not yet been distorted by the anamorphic spot‟ (Zizek 13). A woman is a fictional space for the male and her body is the medium through which the latter redefines his status and gratifies his desires. Lacan contends that both the sexes experience the unconscious castration and struggle for identification. If the female is castrated for lacking the male organ, then the male is haunted by a continual fear of losing his manliness. According to Lacan, desire is the register of the masculine realm but desire operates closely in association with the register of contiguity, i.e., the female. Lacan hypothesizes that the rivalry between male and female is not unnatural rather it is inherent because both operate within the matrix of metonymical signification. Since for Lacan „desire is a metonymy‟ (Gallop 30). Freud‟s theory of libidinal economy and pleasure principle has largely been discussed and analysed first by Lacan and then his descendants. A Neo Lacanian critic Slavoj Zizek criticises feminists for seeking participation in the symbolic order, he forcibly contests that the feminists, instead of petitioning for partaking, must question the structural politics of the symbolic order. Zizek interrogates the symbolic structure and marvels at feminists for their timid subjugation to the structured politics “It is in this sense that Zizek aims towards universality because what is at stake is not a position within a given frame, but the very frame itself” (Marcus 112). Zizek highlights Lacanian subjective positioning of the woman by reviewing her not from a marginal peripheral space but from a nucleus point from where the whole existence originates. Woman is a part of every male as Zizek calls out “Woman is a symptom of man” (Marcus 114). The above statement, at a cursory glance, may arouse the indignation of the feminists for relegating a woman to a reduced position but Zizek astutely manages to justify his statement by adding that woman is a universal source of all existence, i.e., all living the organism on earth owe their existence to the female benefactor and he is not sizing up woman to the male gaze. Zizek states: ...man himself exists only through woman qua his symptom: all his ontological consistency hangs on, is suspended from his symptom, is “externalised” in his symptom. In other words, man literally ex-sists: his entire being lies “out there,” in woman‟. (Marcus 114). According to Freud, the boy gets compensated after his separation from mother and this rift (my italics) leads him to inherit the status of father whereas the girl is deprived of any conferred status after separation from her mother hence she spends her life as a deprived self to which Lacan attributes the term lack. Lacan disagrees with Freud on the theory of castration complex and the former redeems the female by an assertion that female is pas- tout, not all, more precisely, a woman does not exist because existence binds an individual to the chain of signification and the female represents a free play of signification thus she is incomprehensible and that is the reason she posits a threat to the male hegemony. Woman, on the other hand, does not exist, she insists, which is why she does not come to be through man only- there is something in her that escapes the relation to man, the reference to the phallic signifier; and, as is well known Lacan attempted to capture this excess by the notion of a “not- all” feminine jouissance. (Marcus 114) The male exists, that is to say, the male is confined to symbolic order, the norm of heterogeneity whereas the female is universal, and channels her life process in a fluid state, and interestingly, she does not exist rather she insists, more precisely, since she is a void; she insists on living in a free state. According to Lacan the female is non- castrated and is capable of deriving the endogenous pleasure through past-tout, to what Lacan attributes the term feminine jouissance. Jouissance is a nihilist, beyond male comprehension, and social cognition thus it becomes unendurable for the patriarchal society. The sacramental ideology strives to threaten female jouissance by proclaiming her immoral, unethical and charging her for adulteration. Strategically the binary framework has been devised to split the body from its essence. Lacanian critic Montrelay draws a parallel between phallocentric orgasm and the feminine joussance. The jouissance is a free flow of libidinal energy and remains unmediated; on the other hand, the orgasm originates from desire and culminates in a lack. Thus phallic masculine orgasm is subjugated to female jouissance and the latter is much freer in spirit. Jouissance cannot be possessed; it can be recycled just like the knowledge constructs and deconstructs itself. Neo Lacanian Montrelay also introduces a parallel between two interrelated terms, i.e., phallocentric and concentric. The word concentric is an allusion to the female genitalia, so it is related to the word phallogocentric. The diagram delivers significant insights to this concept. The term concentric invests the libidinal psychic energy and a parallel between three terms elucidates Lacanian wit that language, mediates between the phallogocentric and concentric discourse. The language is labelled as eccentric because underneath the conscious utterances, the unconscious mind remains operational. Whatever remains outside the realm of spoken langue is performed through the body gestures/ non- verbal behaviour of the subject. According to Freud unconscious consists of the absent fragments of the conscious, hence the logical and reasonable fragments of the conscious mind remain untrustworthy and at any point of time, the unconscious may chafe and defy the conscious and rule out the human wit. Neo Lacanians claim that if Freud introduced an

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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 unfathomable, immeasurable layer of human mind, i.e., unconscious to the world, Lacan lent a voice to the silent realm of unconscious mind. Phallus, according to Lacan, is an object of desire, a telos, and cherished goal for both the sexes. It, not necessarily, is owned by the male only rather the female may claim an ownership to this. Phallus outsources power and thus is an emblem of relentless sovereignty. Lacan further argues that the phallus remains an unachievable goal for both the sexes, and therefore, the duo indulges in a constant struggle and oscillates between lack and desire and the interplay of the dual complexity distances both the sexes from the desired object, i.e., the phallus: ...women are said to be the phallus, that is, the emblem of its continuing circulation. But this “being” the Phallus is necessarily dissatisfying to the extent that women can never fully reflect that law...... men are said to “have” the Phallus, yet never to “be” it, in the sense that the penis is not equivalent to that Law and can never fully symbolize that Law (Butler 46). Lacan challenged the phallic economy and hegemony through the term „masquerade‟. The term masquerade has close association with the word „appearance‟, unreal, and hidden element. And if phallus is just an appearance then women can thwart the superiority of the phallus at any point of time by the act of imitation. French sociologist Baudrillard in his book Seduction (1979) discusses the polemics of femininity and proposes that feminists have misled themselves in believing that appearances disgrace women and assign them a passive status in society, on the contrary he believes, like Lacan, that appearances strengthen the women to combat the ideological constrains constructed by patriarchal set up. He states “Women seduce through appearances, and appearances never accede to truth or meaning in onto- theological sense of the word” (Baudrillard 8). Baudrillard does not underestimate women rather he emphasizes that femininity can resist masculine avowed claims to superiority since the female feels no fear of dereliction because she has always remained delinquent for the society. Baudrillard furthers his argument by stating “Femininity is post- metaphysical and that it is this status that proves so challenging to an order predicated upon metaphysics i.e., onto- theology” (Marcus 111). With a view to reinvent the subjective space, especially from a feminist perspective, Zizek affirms that the real can contradict the symbolic law and avouch its presence. Indeed it is troublesome rather unconvincing for the mankind to accept that the female, in reality, shares the equable/ identical status with the male. There is a world of possibilities beyond the symbolic domain of signification and an exposition to the other side will open up an arena of freedom for both the sexes: Zizek often describes this act as requiring a “suspension of the symbolic,” an allusion to Kierkegaard‟s “suspension of the ethical”; a radical moment of transition in which one passes from reason to faith, leaving behind all the symbolic supports through commitment to God (Marcus 12). Lacan hypothesizes that irrespective of the role subject plays; it (subject) is correspondingly subjected to the process of signification. Thus the subject is subjugated to the system outside its imaginary realm, i.e., the symbolic structure that operates through and within the precincts of language hence language in a performative mode dominates the performer. Lacan alternates the term disappearance for Earnest Jones‟ Aphanisis which is also an equivalent to the term disappearance in vernacular. Lacan embraces the naked term castration and refrains from replacing it with Jones‟ Aphanisis. Lacan deliberately uses the term castration to heighten the effect and cruelty of the phallus as the prime signifier. Neo Lacanians condemn the superimposition of the phallus and disavow the idea of broadening the subjective space for the male. Lacan subverts the pre- eminence of the phallus by indicating “It is glaringly disproportionate for one particular signifier to „designate‟ the whole of the effects of signification. By what right does this part, this portion signifies, represent the whole? „Our sense of proportion‟ cannot accept this usurpation”(Gallop 20). The existence of the individual is determined through the process of signification that is further conditioned in lieu of metonymical plane of signification. Nonetheless both part and whole unite to form a composite whole; therefore the prejudice behind the establishment of disproportioned space is exposed. Lacan in his Ecrits, under the essay „The Sign of the Phallus‟ quotes “desire is a metonymy” (Gallop 20). Since desire is never a desire for one particular individual or a thing rather desire is always partial and symptomatic. In a way the male desires the female body not for the sake of acquisition of the flesh, or to gain momentary pleasure through orgasm since the body is nothing more than a medium, and indubitably, the body is a tool to achieve the pleasure but the effect of pleasure slips away immediately after the act, leaving behind an abysmal void; another desire. From here emerges Lacanian pas-tout or female jouissance. The ego is an agency of the conscious mind that creates or constructs the psychic reality of a subject in relation to the external reality or the world outside the precincts of subjective space. The external world designs and contours the psychic reality of an individual. Arguably ego is a blind and unintelligent entity that is not independent and rages a war with its part components, i.e., id and pre- conscious with an intention to accommodate to the external world. The location and assignment of the subjective/ objective space is crucial to the understanding of Lacanian discourse of gender signification. In general, the psychoanalysis aims to reveal the subject‟s veiled, uncanny and unsteady realm of the mind and to exhibit how it receives a subjective disposition. A single consciousness is a composite whole of multiple consciousnesses. Both male and female as separate consciousnesses strive to contain each other through a

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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 subconscious dream state, but both sexes, at the end of their episodic trial, remain dissatisfied. Somehow one may succeed in obtaining the body but the essence is left unattainable. Freud‟s unconscious is composed of absent fragments of the conscious mind hence the mind remains an unfathomable unit, it is only with Lacan that the unconscious devised logic for its existence.

REFERENCES

[1] Baudrillard, Jean, Seduction, trans. Brian Singer. New York: St. Martin‟s Press, 1990. [2] Butler, Judith, Gender Trouble: Feminism and The Subversion Of Identity, Routledge, 1990. [3] Gallop, Jane, The Daughter‟s Seduction: Feminism and Psychoanalysis, New York, 1982. [4] Grosz, Elizabeth, Jacques Lacan: A Feminist Introduction. Routledge, London and New York, 1990. [5] Pound, Marcus, Zizek : A Very Critical Introduction. Eerdmans Publishing Co. UK, 2008. [6] Zizek, Slavoj, Looking Awry: An Introduction To Jacques Lacan Through Popular Culture. The Mit Press, Cambridge, 1991.

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