This article maps sexual difference to reflect on Western socio-historical features that influenced Freud’s theory on modern sexuality. As a result, we note that the discourse on the natural difference between genders is recent, which is why we should not take it as a matter of course. It is understood that the assumptions that enabled the birth of psychoanalysis do not escape scientific attempts to establish the nature of male and female sexualities. However, by shifting the focus of sexuality from the biological to the psychic, Freud performs a reading that shows the marks of a moral discourse that has shown in the construction of social bonds between genders and still impacts, to a large extent, our contemporary era.
Key words:
Freud; psychoanalysis and culture; sexuality.