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MDCS40440

Academic Year 2025/2026

Human Sexuality and Sexuation (MDCS40440)

Subject:
Medicine Clinical Science
College:
Health & Agricultural Sciences
School:
Medicine
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Barry O'Donnell
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

Sexuality has been a fundamental question for psychoanalysis since the publication of Sigmund Freud's radical 'Three Essays on a Theory of Sexuality' in 1905. Not determined exclusively by our so-called 'natural' gendered state or selected gender, how a man or a woman takes up a 'sexed' position is at the core of our question of what it is to be human. This question has fundamental implications for our response to matters where sexuality is central: abuse, suicide among young men, the addictions, masculinity, femininity, transgenderism and gender fluidity. This module works with the key Freudian texts on sexuality including the debate within the psychoanalytic movement in the 1920s and 1930s. The contemporary reading of Jacques Lacan's formulae of sexuation is introduced on this module and studied closely.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

1. Demonstrate a critical understanding the Freudian account of sexuality and why it begins with the sexual aberrations
2. Critically evaluate the importance of the concepts of castration, perversion and lack in the psychoanalytic theory of sexuality. 3. Demonstrate an understanding of the vicissitudes of the drive and the psychoanalytic (Lacanian) sense of the object.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of Lacan's formulae of sexuation and their relevance to clinical practice

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

35
Specified Learning Activities

20
Autonomous Student Learning

50
Total

105

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
peer and group work; lectures; critical writing; reflective learning; in-class discussion case-based learning; student presentations

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Requirements:

Engagement in one's own psychoanalysis


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Each student leads the reading on a topic and submits a report subsequently which is based on the leading of the reading Week 14 Graded Yes
50
 Yes
Assignment(Including Essay): Each student leads the reading on a topic and submits a report subsequently which is based on the leading of the reading Week 15 Graded Yes
50
 Yes

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students are invited to contact the Programme Leader following receipt of grades to learn from their work

Name Role
Dr Grainne Donohue Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Ms Monica Errity Tutor
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