Subverting the idea of a body that is only organic, Freud not only establishes a link between the body and sexuality: he goes further and states that the psyche stems from the body. We thus witness the birth of psychoanalysis and of the idea that the body anatomy is accompanied by an intense fantasmatic life. The anatomy of the body is seen as a stage that covers another one; hence its ability to transform itself into a “theater” and stage a wide range of unconscious conflicts.
Body; symptom; hysteria; ideal; culture