PHRASE- "Sexuality is established..."

"Sexuality is established in the field of the subject by a way that is that of lack" (204).

This phrase is important because it marks the beginning of Lacan's explanation of how we, as humans, discover our individual sexuality. This statement follows an example of how libido alone cannot be the driving force behind human reproduction. Lacan explains how an innocent person (one who has absolutely no knowledge of sex and reproduction) feels the drive for sexual fulfillment, but ultimately doesn't know how to satisfy the feelings.

The first lack that Lacan attempts to describe is somewhat hard to translate. Basically, Lacan says that the first lack arises when the subject discovers that the signifier, whom he is dependent on, is also in the field of the Other. Lacan goes on to describe the second lack as what the subject loses in sex and reproduction. According to Lacan, "...the living being, by being subject to sex, has fallen under the blow of individual death" (205). In other words, reproduction through sex marks the death of the individual in some sense because, in reproduction, a "copy" is produced.