Asexuality and Freudian-Lacanian Psychoanalysis

Book excerpt: Asexuality and Freudian-Lacanian Psychoanalysis: Towards a Theory of an Enigma proposes that asexuality is a libidinally founded desire for no sexual desire, a concept not included in psychoanalytic theory up to now. "Asexuality" is defined as the experience of having no sexual attraction for another person; as an emerging self-defined sexual orientation, it has received practically no attention from psychoanalytic research. This book is the first sustained piece of exploratory and theoretical research from a Freudian-Lacanian perspective. Using Freudian concepts to understand the intricacies of human sexual desire, this volume will also employ Lacanian conceptual tools to understand how asexuality might sustain itself despite the absence of Other-directed sexual desire. This book argues that asexuality holds a mirror to contemporary sexualized society which assumes sexual attraction and eroticism as the benchmarks for experiencing sexual desire. It also argues that asexuality may be a previously unrecognized form of human sexuality which can contribute new understandings to the range and breadth of what it means to be a sexual being. This book will be of interest to anyone in the area of asexuality or sexuality – psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, university lecturers, researchers, students or those simply curious about the possibilities of the human sex drive.