Approximations and distances between psychoanalysis and gender theories

The research in question invites us to a critical investigation into the possible relationships between the constitution of the masculine and feminine as proposed by psychoanalysis, as a structuring factor for the subject’s drive satisfaction and socialisation, in debate with the gender issue proposed by social theories. For Freud, dealing with sexual differentiation means dealing with the constitution of the subject within the symbolic world. Numerous social gender theorists, on the other hand, emphasise that the body is not a support on which gender is inscribed, but rather a text to be read and interpreted by gender. Based on a rereading of the literature, the research is aimed at attempting to draw closer and further apart psychoanalysis and gender theories, from an interpretative and revisionist perspective.