In this ‘phallocratic’ power, man loses something too; in particular the pleasure of his own body.    Luce Irigaray

In this lecture I will discuss whether the twentieth century psychoanalytic paradigm, where human experience is understood as an effect of desire, is still relevant. By re-visiting Freud’s theory of the Oedipus complex based on the ‘family romance’ and Lacan’s structural approach of sexuation, I will discuss how the processes of identification and castration can generate double binds for men. I will critically engage with such theories. I will ask whether they perpetuate or critique the implications of a masculinisation which appropriates mastery, invulnerability and activity whilst attributing to another sex its own vulnerability, passivity and anxieties in relation to death and mortality. I will also discuss how sexuality, class and race get folded into these questions.

I will also discuss whether psychoanalysis can address contemporary issues in clinical practice, relating to the so-called ‘crisis in masculinity’ where the ‘dark continent’ of men’s bodies comes into view. I will address whether the crisis generated by the loss of the paternal metaphor, the questioning of the legitimacy of fatherhood, and challenges to normative masculinity can also be an opportunity for the appearance of new possibilities.