Sexual Difference - Masculinity and Psychoanalysis (Paperback)

"Sexual Difference: Masculinity and Psychoanalysis" offers a critical exploration of issues of gender in psychoanalysis. It acknowledges and unpacks the complexity of theory and writing in this area, particularly the way sexual difference can only be thought about from a gendered position. As the book is written by a male academic and psychologist, its orientation is towards the way masculinity is expressed in theory and practice, and how this influences the experience and construction of both masculinity and femininity in contemporary culture. In addition, Stephen Frosh describes how psychoanalysis itself can be seen as a system and approach heavily imbued with gender assumptions, and how the form and content of its theories express many of the dilemmas of sexual difference which it seeks to overcome. The text is written in an accessible and self-reflexive style. It introduces major strands of psychoanalytic theory on sexual difference, particularly those associated with the Kleinian and Lacanian traditions, and includes a detailed exploration of the gender assumptions apparent in some of Freud's work.