ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the representation of the masculine element in the psyche. In their dictionary of psychoanalysis, Laplanche and Pontalis write that in contemporary psychoanalytic literature the word phallus tends to be used to describe the symbolic aspect, while penis denotes the male organ in its bodily reality. The chapter argues that phallus refers to one specific symbolic aspect only and that there are other symbolic aspects for which the word phallus is not appropriate. It presents a distinction between the phallus on the one hand and the penis as representing the mental function of linking and structuring on the other. The chapter then calls the latter 'penis-as-link' in order to distinguish it both from the penis in its purely bodily reality and from the phallus. It suggests that it is theoretically and clinically important to make a distinction between phallus and penis-as-link.
