Freud and the Problem of Sexuality


Book Description

While contemporary studies have paid renewed attention to the psychoanalytic theory of sexuality and routinely reference Sigmund Freud, they seldom engage directly with his work. Freud and the Problem of Sexuality returns to Freud's writings to argue that there is still something revolutionary and novel to be found there—something that will come to challenge both philosophical and popular understandings of sexuality. In lively, accessible prose, Bradley Ramos revisits some of the most difficult, even troubling aspects of Freud's work and sheds fresh light on foundational concepts such as Trieb (drive or instinct), perversion, infantile sexuality, and the Oedipus complex. Reading Freud alongside Jean Laplanche, Louis Althusser, and Jacques Derrida, we can begin to see why sexuality becomes for us, as it did for Freud, a problem in and by its nature. However, to take this problem of sexuality seriously, Ramos argues, we must dare to do what most refuse: renounce our persistent fantasies and assumptions about sexuality.




On the Sexual Theories of Children


Book Description

This early work by Sigmund Freud was originally published in 1908 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'On the Sexual Theories of Children' is a psychological work on sexual development. Sigismund Schlomo Freud was born on 6th May 1856, in the Moravian town of PrĂ­bor, now part of the Czech Republic. He studied a variety of subjects, including philosophy, physiology, and zoology, graduating with an MD in 1881. Freud made a huge and lasting contribution to the field of psychology with many of his methods still being used in modern psychoanalysis. He inspired much discussion on the wealth of theories he produced and the reactions to his works began a century of great psychological investigation.




The Ego and the Id


Book Description

One of Sigmund Freud's most insightful works on the topic of the subconscious, this ground-breaking volume explores the complicated interactions of three elements of the psyche: id, ego, and superego.




Identity, Gender, and Sexuality


Book Description

'While Freud opened the door on the formative and motivating power of sexuality, contemporary psychoanalysts, with some notable exceptions, have consigned sexuality to the psychoanalytic closet. This book not only re-opens the door on the broad subject of psychosexuality, but also provides fresh insights into heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality, gender identity disorder, transvestism and transsexualism. This publication brings together some of the leading psychoanalytic authorities from around the globe to consider in depth the complex interweaving of identity, gender and sexuality from theoretical, clinical, historical and research perspectives. The author strongly recommends "Identity, Gender and Sexuality" to those looking for a book that does not pull punches. The reader will find a debate about the relative merits of clinical, empirical, and conceptual research, critical assessments of interdisciplinary findings from infant and child development research, embodied cognitive science, academic psychology, neurobiology, genetics, ethology, and other fields of inquiry, and honest and illuminating psychoanalytic case studies. - Donald Campbell







Seduction and Desire


Book Description

Modern society has introduced many new relationships and family forms and the pluralisation of sexual lifestyles in the hundred years since Freud. This book provides a systematic account of the current state of theory, developing a gender-wide model of human sexuality and outlining the implications of this for psychotherapy practice. The author argues that the development of human sexuality follows no innate biological programs, but takes place in an interpersonal relationship, often established in the early parent-child relationship. Whereas the current psychoanalytic discourse emanates from a rather rigid division of gender relations emphasizing the differences between men and women, the author develops a gender-wide model of human sexuality in which the 'masculine' and 'feminine' are integrated and contribute to the full diversity of gender identities and sexual varieties. She points to structural similarities of hetero-and homosexuality and perversion and calls for a general human sexuality that is based less on differences between men and women than with each other.




Making Sex


Book Description

History of sex in the West from the ancients to the moderns by describing the developments in reproductive anatomy and physiology.




Sexual Dissidence


Book Description

Returning to the early modern period, this study questions and develops issues of post-modernity. It shows how literature histories and sub-cultures of sexual and gender dissidence may be relevant to current debates and discusses topics ranging from homophobia to transgression and its containment.