A Crucial Misunderstanding: Equating the Categories of Diversity and Difference

ABSTRACT This article discusses the erroneous equation between the categories of diversity and difference and proposes to intercross Ferenczi’s “confusion of tongues” with Laplanche’s distinction between diversity and difference. Confusion between infantile sexual theories, adult sexual theories, and psychoanalytic theory is pointed out. The aim is to work with at least three variables: anatomical heterogeneity, gender difference/gender diversity, and psychosexual difference. Their intersections are always conflictive and impact on the construction of subjectivity. This model of triadic thought goes beyond binary thought (masculine/feminine and phallic/castrated dichotomies) and demands the inclusion of nonbinary logic. It is underlined that the category of difference is a symbolic operation that should be distinguished from sexual difference. This distinction is fundamental to exploring the symbolic field each subject can construct. In the context of multiple itineraries of sexuality and gender more visible in contemporary societies, the goal is to face the theoretical/clinical problems that arise if those distinctions are ignored.