Gender as contradiction

Abstract

A model of gender as a paradoxical and multidimensional structure is proposed. An extended critical reading of Freud's essay on a case of homosexuality in a woman undermines the notion of gender identity and sexual object choice as monolithic categories of experience. The Freud case is considered for its radical model of sexuality and gender, but also for its restrictive use of classical interpretation. Alternative interpretive lines and transference countertransference meanings are considered. With the use of contemporary clinical material, a model of gender identity and sexuality is proposed in which the unconscious and symbolic meaning of bodies and genders, rather than biological sex of the lover and the beloved, carries the interpretive weight.