ABSTRACT

From his dual inheritance theory (genes strategy and cultural strategy), Dr. Paul’s paper takes an anthropological point of view to examine the ways in which contemporary social changes in the structure of marriage and reproduction have evolved and impacted the world at large and the practice of psychoanalysis as a cultural phenomenon in specific. By examining an aspect of the real body, namely its sexual functions, Dr. Paul elucidates how from the time of the Greeks onward our civilization has been obsessed with the idea of creating humans, or good enough substitutes, by non-sexual mechanical means. In vitro fertilization serves as an example of the contemporary disconnect between sex and reproduction with new consequences for the society and the individual. Paul goes back to Freud’s unanswered question: is the malaise of civilization due to restrictions of our own sexual urges facing cultural constraints, or inherent in sexuality itself? He argues that it is both, but also that in our times it has a specific configuration brought about by the evolution of our sexual norms and cultural values where there is a disconnect between sex and reproduction; this disconnect recasts gender roles and many other organizations of sex in mutual, egalitarian terms. Similarly, psychoanalysis, given that it is a cultural phenomenon, has evolved accordingly. It has moved from the asymmetrical practice between the analyst and the analysand, where the focus was on interpretation and resolution of conflict with the goal of enhancing the ability to enjoy heterosexual genital intercourse and reproduction, into an egalitarian relationship, where the emphasis is on the dyadic relationship and on the exploration of a wide range of sexual practices disconnected from the goal of reproduction. Bountiful examples, both contemporary and historical enrich this exposition.