ABSTRACT
The text The Signification of the Phallus deals with the role that the phallus plays in the symbolic order. In this essay, Lacan is careful to distinguish the phallus from the penis and to insist that the phallus is first and foremost a signifier rather than an object or an organ. This chapter offers a thorough reading of The Signification of the Phallus and focuses on how this essay provides an original interpretation of Freud’s theory of sexual difference. It touches on the relationship between this essay and Lacan’s attitude to patriarchy, as well as how the essay unmasks the purported privilege of the phallus. The essay shows the distorting effect that the phallus necessarily has on subjectivity.
