Abstract
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of mastectomy surgery in women attended at a public hospital outpatient clinic in the city of Belo Horizonte - MG. The methodology used consisted of bibliographical research and case study in a psychoanalytic approach of Freud-Lacanian orientation. The clinical cases analyzed showed that breast mutilation had the effect of a confrontation with reality, arousing anguish and causing a great psychosocial impact. Why did these women not verbalize the theme of death, but questions related to body image and sexuality? The analysis through the psychoanalytic clinic demonstrated the particular way in which each one subjected that lived moment. It was found that the notion of femininity for these women was linked to body beauty. Reports of sexual inhibitions were common, as well as refusal to have sex after mastectomy surgery. It was concluded that the effects of this real castration in the body on the image and identification with femininity and its relationship with beauty must be analyzed in a particular way, recognizing, therefore, the impossibility of formulating a universal answer to this question.