O erotismo da mulher na maturidade

Abstract

The main topic of this text, presented at the clinic of psychoanalysis, is an investigation into women going through menopause. The following thesis is the basis for the discussion: What makes menopause, characterized by the complete cessation of the ability to procreate, a factor for mid-life crises, since at this stage a woman can see new opportunities and is free to experience her eroticism. What leads some women to experience the pleasure of intimacy and love while others become ill and produce varied psychosomatic symptoms. Such women, faced with more intense libido, sometime choose hypochondria or conversion. This research brought together three important points, which converge toward the study of women in menopause. The first point is pathos, understood here as mental suffering and imbalance, a situation that requires another who will listen. One paradigm of this state is hypochondria. The second point is eroticism, seen as a possibility for new relationships consequent to life changes. The third is culture, considered an area for producing knowledge. Based on this confluence, women's experiences and ensuing growth can be explored. Special attention is given to the process of how women process the changes going on in their bodies, as mediated by fantasies and dreams and marked by the passage from narcissistic libido to object libido. It becomes clear how, in the face of the inevitable loss of fertility, women can often reorganize their lives and move on toward femininity. These specific experiences are referred to as pathos of mature women