late 15c., "possession and use" (of something), from Old French joissance, from joissant "happy, glad," present participle of joir "to enjoy, take delight in, take pleasure in [..]

enjoyment or pleasure that's something more than mere satisfaction of instincts. Such pleasure is seen as subversive and destabilizing force.

a term most commonly associated with Helene Cixous (seek-sou), whose use of the word may have derived from Jacques Lacan - "Cixous follows Lacan's psychoanalytic paradigm, which argues t [..]