Nahon, Claire

Trans-sexuality, or Moving beyond Form (Disfiguration, Deformation, and Laceration) - 2006.


43

This article presents the meaning of trans-sexuality, a concept this issue of Cliniques Méditerranéennes aims to discuss (and one which must not be confused with trans-sexualism, although the former term comes directly from the latter). Trans-sexuality must also be distinguished from bisexuality, whose theoretical power—found at the basis of Freud’s elaborations—it radicalizes. In fact—and this can be seen in the reference to Malaparte and Bataille—trans-sexuality must be taken into account to re-establish the transgressive nature of auto-erotic sexuality, a dimension strikingly absent from contemporary psychoanalytic work. Trans-sexuality unmasks dualisms, destabilizes preconceived ideas about gender, and sheds light on the subversion at work in the Unconscious, constantly shown in dreams. This is how trans-sexuality must be understood and felt, as the very embodiment of psychoanalytic practice: when the deepest affects of the body resound and the word becomes flesh.