In this article, we wish to examine whether the body actually gives a testimony of sex difference, what this may stand as an evidence of, and how it acts in the structuring of the psyche. The psychoanalytical concepts of sexuation and sexuality will be tackled, questioning how sex difference may proceed from the visibility of bodies, what inscription of the symbolic order it performs and how it is used by psychoanalytical theory.
With the help of Monique Schneider’s analyses, we shall browse through the multi-layered Freudian text, which will lead us to the notion of sex assignment through the look. We shall try to establish a dialogue between psychoanalysis and Judith Butler’s gender theory, which gives an account of this assignment and upsets the meanings of sex difference. We shall eventually analyse the Lacanian concept of phallus and approach it through its social-historical determination.