ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. Embedded in the idea of potency, thrust, penetration, and assertion, the signification of the phallus and traditionally feminine signifiers can be traced to early self-other identifications, all of which derive from primary bisexuality, a kind of equipotentiality and polymorphous erotic potential in us all. The recuperation of bisexual potential might be further expanded as well, to a multi-gendered and multi-sexual self-system. Gender and sexuality form a nexus around which privately held fantasies display their inhibiting and destructive power. It is psychologically and emotionally healthy to include, yet we are often moved to exclude. Inclusiveness, embodiedness, intensity, flexibility, and range in one's affective life, these are the components of healthy psychological functioning and the aims around which treatment is focused. Contemporary psychoanalytic theorists have employed a variety of evocative images to depict human development in its complexity across time and space.
