ABSTRACT
Freud and his pupils considered psychoanalysis, both in its theoretical and practical aspects, as an enterprise that could free us from all kinds of oppressive cultural norms, particularly with regard to sexuality. It is hard to deny that Freudian psychoanalysis in many respects had a liberating potential and that psychoanalysis did contribute to profound changes in our cultural and moral landscape. This chapter discusses the Freudian approach to perversion and contrast this approach to Lacanian orthodoxy and more particularly the idea of a perverse structure. It also explores the historical and cultural context that might explain at least partially Lacan's problematic account of the perversions. According to Verhaeghe, the theory of the different structures of the subject is generally accepted in contemporary Lacanian theory. The Lacanian perversion, the idea of a 'perverse structure', seems to participate in a universe that is not exactly the same as the one that determines Freud's ideas on perversion.
