Sex on the Couch: What Freud Still Has To Teach Us About Sex and Gender [Paperback]

Richard Boothby is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola College in Baltimore. He is the author of Death and Desire: Psychoanalytic Theory in Lacan's Return to Freud and Freud as Philosopher: Metapsychology after Lacan, both published by Routledge.At just the moment when many people are ready to throw Freud on to the ash-heap of intellectual history, Sex on the Couch rescues from Freud's theories a fascinating series of reflections on the nature of sexuality and gender. Richard Boothby presents here a fresh and engaging view of Freud. Sex on the Couch offers new insights into our concepts of masculinity and femininity, placing them in relation to Freud's theory of the Life and Death drives. Richard Boothby also engages feminist critiques of Freud, putting forward new and specific responses to questions that have shaped contemporary understanding of feminism and psychoanalysis. Boothby's Freud, far from being pass, is in possession of insights that enrich our understanding of modernity and its distinctive character. In a refreshingly readable style, Richard Boothby writes here not only for the scholarly reader but for the student and lay reader curious about Freud's theories and their use in contemporary world.Preface PART I: BASICS 1 The Phallic Code of Neckwear Having To Stick Your Neck Out Tying the Knot Up Tight, Out 'a Sight The Ladies' Question: How Low Can You Go? Getting Beauty By the Throat Tie Die? Critical Refrains 2 Drive You Crazy Whatever Turns You On Why You Are Not An Animal Baby, Oh Baby! What Only a Mother Could Love A Note On Analytic Interpretation Stick Shift Phallic Phantasy or Fantastic Fallacy? The Really Prickly Question The Prime Cut A Little Slice of Heaven 3 Why Sex is Such a Touchy Subject How We Look To Martians Unknown To Ourselves Higher Love Who Needs An Ego Anyway? The Fictive Self And Its Objects Subversive lcl