Abstract
The present paper discusses the intricate development of feminine sexuality by drawing on the ideas of André Green. The paper’s main argument is that feminine sexuality is unique in being dependent on the creation of a representation of an internal empty space (as an ontological entity). This takes place through “the work of the negative” and involves an instinctual movement of “double reversal,” by which the drive directed at the object helps the subject establish their own body as a source of pleasure. The author will argue that the combination of these two processes, defined in this paper as “the work of the feminine,” is a prerequisite of the subject’s capacity to structure themselves as having a sense of internal abundance, vitality, and power that is grounded in a receptive sexual position that is relevant to both sexes. The paper will conclude by presenting clinical material demonstrating how “the work of the feminine” manifests in the way the vagina is represented in feminine sexuality. As an afterthought, the paper will describe Green’s unique contribution in relation to Winnicott’s contribution and to the different ways in which these two authors address the manner in which the subject comes to dwell in their body.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to my teachers and colleagues at the Tel-Aviv Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis. To Gisèle Vered, Dr. Isabelle Benhamou, Noemi Bronfman Huler and Alice Buras for their inspiring thinking, and to Haya Marton, Dorit Levin, Shlomit Meir and Liel Tzvieli for their important comments. I would also like to thank Dr. Josef Triest for his contribution.
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Aya Zaidel Aboody, Psychanalyst, Tel-Aviv Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis; Clinical Psychologist, M.A.; Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Psychoanalysis, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University.
Address correspondence to Aya Zaidel Aboody, M.A. Eliyau Hanavi St. 20, Modiin 7172233, Israel. Email: aya.zaidel@gmail.com
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Aboody, A.Z. Feminine Sexuality and the Work of the Negative. Am J Psychoanal 82, 112–143 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-022-09341-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-022-09341-2