Routledge Sexual Difference in Debate: Bodies, Desires, and Fictions

The greater part of this book focuses on a critical analysis of the logics and ways of thinking supporting both explicit and implicit theories of sexual difference and the masculine/feminine pair. These theories may be private or collective; conscious, preconscious, or unconscious. They impact heavily on interpretations and constructions made in analytic practice, while they also affect transference-countertransference patterns. This conceptual analysis reviews the Freudian oeuvre as well as the work of other significant authors, post-Freudian and contemporary, that have contributed specifically to this topic. The concept of sexual difference contains a persistent problem: binary, dichotomous thinking and its blind spots and aporias. For this reason, the author has turned to other epistemologies that offer novel forms to think about the same problems, such as the paradigm of hyper-complexity, as well as thinking at intersections and limits between different categories. Review " Sexual Difference in Debate is a remarkable book in which Leticia Glocer Fiorini shows the evolution of psychoanalytic thinking concerning sexuality, and describes her own original contributions for a better understanding of sexual difference. In this sense, her book is both rooted in classical psychoanalytic formulations and presents a contemporary and fresh look at this challenging field, which is at the core of psychoanalytic theory and practice. I strongly recommend it, both to seasoned analysts and to those who are beginners in our field. The elegant style and the convincing evidence displayed masterfully by Glocer Fiorini are a source of stimulation to improve our theoretical understanding and our clinical skills."-- (02/27/2017) "In this book of crucial importance, Leticia Glocer Fiorini, anchored in a deep knowledge of the Freudian corpus, tackles fundamental contemporary questions. Combining a rare transcultural erudition with a concise and clear style, the author revisits the question of the difference between the sexes. She thus links up developments of contemporary psychoanalysis with recent philosophical and anthropological contributions. These rigorous analyses enable her, among other things, to shift the 'enigma of the feminine' on to the enigma of alterity and the question of the "father" on to that of a third function. With this book, Glocer Fiorini has opened up a genuine nterdisciplinary debate."-- (02/27/2017) About the Author Leticia Glocer Fiorini