Circumcision on the Couch: The Cultural, Psychological, and Gendered Dimensions of the World's Oldest Surgery

This book explores how circumcision has become a site for negotiating gender, race, religion, sexuality, and psychic life, using a feminist Lacanian framework and drawing from archival sources and critical thought. It asks how psychoanalysis can help us shed light on the ideologies, discourses, and fantasies surrounding circumcision and the impassioned stances for and against it.

Format: Hardback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 13 January 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

For a considerable amount of time, the topics of penises and the various activities that involve them have sparked debate. This book delves into the examination of how the practice of circumcising penises has evolved into a platform for the negotiation of significant issues such as gender, race, religion, sexuality, and psychic life. While the majority of contemporary research on circumcision focuses on determining whether it is morally correct or wrong, safe or harmful, Circumcision on the Couch takes a different approach by asserting that the significance of male circumcision extends beyond anatomical and legal considerations. By employing a feminist Lacanian framework and drawing from a diverse array of archival sources and critical thought, Jordan Osserman poses the following questions: How can psychoanalysis assist us in shedding light on the ideologies, discourses, and fantasies surrounding circumcision and the passionate arguments for and against it? Furthermore, how can the history of circumcision contribute to a re-evaluation and clarification of our understanding of the split (or "snipped") subject of psychoanalysis?

For a considerable amount of time, the topics of penises and the various activities that involve them have sparked debate. This book delves into the examination of how the practice of circumcising penises has evolved into a platform for the negotiation of significant issues such as gender, race, religion, sexuality, and psychic life. While the majority of contemporary research on circumcision focuses on determining whether it is morally correct or wrong, safe or harmful, Circumcision on the Couch takes a different approach by asserting that the significance of male circumcision extends beyond anatomical and legal considerations. By employing a feminist Lacanian framework and drawing from a diverse array of archival sources and critical thought, Jordan Osserman poses the following questions: How can psychoanalysis assist us in shedding light on the ideologies, discourses, and fantasies surrounding circumcision and the passionate arguments for and against it? Furthermore, how can the history of circumcision contribute to a re-evaluation and clarification of our understanding of the split (or "snipped") subject of psychoanalysis?

Weight: 454g
Dimension: 145 x 223 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501368165