Joana Nolais and the Enigma of the Gender: A Psychoanalytic Discussion of Transsexuality

This article approaches transsexuality as part of the gender plurality, within the perspective of Jean Laplanche’s theory of generalized seduction, from the transsexual Joana Nolais autobiography analysis. It discusses the gender as one of the contents from the enigmatic messages which originate from adults, transmited to child through the basic care. For being enigmatic, that is, of the sexual order and, therefore, also unconscious for the adult, these messages are traumatic par excellence, what demands from the child a translation work, assisted by the anatomical sex and the culture, as organizers. Considering the transsexuality as one of the possible translations of the adult gender enigma perfomed by the child since very early.

Keywords:
Psychoanalysis; Gender; Transsexuality; Theory of Generalized Seduction