Analytic Voyages: Surprises at Sea Reply to Commentaries

I elaborate, at the level of unconscious fantasy, the oedipal recognition of “threeness” as a traumatic disruption that can have the quality of a sudden shock and that can be experienced as an assault on (dyadic) “reality.” I then take up the question of the individuality of choice, given the impact of the cultural surround. A relationship is identified between female attire and the regulation of sexual excitement. The focus on maternal sexual subjectivity is extended to include consideration of women as subjects of beauty. I contend that female beauty, including the erotic, is a communication not solely to men but between women, within any given woman, and, at core, between mother and infant.