The conjunction of Lacanian-influenced psychoanalysis and feminist politics has led to major disagreements among feminist theorists. In this landmark collection of original essays, outstanding feminist critics in Britain, France, and the United States present new perspectives on feminism and psychoanalysis, opening out deadlocked debates. The discussion ranges widely, with contributions from feminists identified with different, often opposed views on psychoanalytic criticism. The contributors reassess the history of Lacanian psychoanalysis and feminism, and explore the significance of its institutional context. They write against the received views on 'French feminism' and essentialism. They analyse the lack of a female symbolic. They reread Freud for a different theory of knowledge and set Lacan against Aristotle for an alternative account of social, political causality. They rethink the role of Woman in Derrida's thought and psychoanalytic critiques of it, and examine perverse sexuality amongst women.
A remarkable restatement of current positions within psychoanalysis and feminism, the volume as a whole will change the terms of existing debates, and make its arguments and concerns more generally accessible.