On Pleasure and Restraint

There is the oral pleasure of suckling that is taken away. There is the anal pleasure that is expected to be renounced. There is the genital pleasure and all the other pleasures of the body, all placed under restraints. On the opposite side of bodily pleasure, there is restraint, the essential father of culture.

Eventually, restraint leads to desire. Desire is not only a lack to fulfil, it is necessary for the mere existence of the human subject: “I desire, therefore I am.”