In this chapter, I examine how activity and passivity were psychically negotiated during the revolt, especially in academic writing. Many subjects engaged in mental contortions to justify writing while disavowing it, as writing felt transgressive. I interpret this dynamic through the fantasy of impotence—an imaginary narrative that enables desire to circulate in a compromised form, offering self-recognition. This fantasy constructs a symbolic divide between those who openly enjoy writing and those who adhere to its prohibition (but still write). Ultimately, I highlight the ambivalent appeal of impotence as a mode of identification within the revolt’s libidinal economy.