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La ley de la madre. Ensayo sobre el sinthome sexual

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The law of the mother is made up of words charged with pleasure and suffering that leave their mark on us in early childhood. In this groundbreaking book, Genevieve Morel explores whether it is possible for the child to escape subjection from this maternal law and develop their own sexual identity.

Through clinical examples and critical commentary, the book illustrates the range and power of maternal influence on the child, and how this can generate different forms of sexual ambiguity. Using a Lacanian framework which revises the classical idea of the Oedipus complex, the book is not only a major contribution to gender studies but also an invaluable aid to the clinician dealing with questions of sexual identity. The book avoids many of the moral and political prejudices that paralyze twenty-first century society, be they related to legislation on marriage, parentage or adoption, the status of "mental health," or the limits to the supposed ownership of the human body.

Insightful and revealing, The Law of the Mother will be of great interest to Lacanian psychoanalysts, as well as to researchers in the fields of gender studies and sexuality.

350 pages, Paperback

First published November 12, 2018

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Geneviève Morel

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840 reviews51 followers
April 12, 2022
Essential for all those interested in psychoanalysis, "gender and sex" issues and current philosophy.

This book, still more than the preceding book, opens up new perspectives within the lacanian theory of sexuation, the sexual ambiguity of our condition and the prevalence of the individual peculiarity of the sinthome. Althouth taking into account the infinite possibilities of language, Morel acknowledges the central leadership of the Real (all that avoids meaning and which is always open to creation, newness and openness). Nevertheless, she separates from all those postmodern theories committed with fluid sex, avoiding the ungrounded exaggerations.

Sexuality, understood from the human individuality and the vaste space of our phantasies, imagination and sociability, is a riddle and something which, although firstly could be grounded on anatomy and cultural discourse, finally is tied up by our ineffable subjectivity.

Suggestion: this book might be accompanied by those written by Alenka Zupancik (What is sex?) and Miqel Bassols ("La diferencia de sexos no existe en el inconsciente", no english translation).
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August 2, 2025
این کتاب مربوط به مرحله‌ی دوم روانکاوی لکان است اگر درمورد لکان مطالعاتی متوسط به بالا نداشتین این کتاب را نخونین
نویسنده‌ی این کتاب در زمینه سنتوم و Maternal Law تمرکز کرده که یک سری رویکردهای نظری با وفاداری کامل به ساختار نظری لکان هم پیشنهاد کرده
این کتاب به نظرم یکی از مهمترین اثرهای در مورد لکان متاخر است
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