Outline of Laugh of Medusa Presentation Transcript

1. I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat... ~ Rebecca West 2. Women must take control of their own speech, and of the symbolic You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her. And shes not deadly. Shes beautiful and shes laughing. 3. Women Must Write Write! Writing is for you, you are for you; your body is yours, take it (392) 4. Women Have Been Repressed And worst of all, men have turned women against themselves (393). 5. No Writing that inscribes feminity Writing is marked and has been the locus for the subjugation of women However, now, writing allows a space for subversive thought (394) 6. Rejection of Reason/Passion, Mind/Body Binaries Censor the body and you censor the breath and speech at the same time (395) To forge for herself the antilogos weapon (395) 7. Suspicion of written word as power element Women have difficulty speaking aloud in a group of men, but should break away from the snare of silence (395) In women, there is not that scission, that division made by the common man between the logic of oral speech and the logic of the text (396). Womens creative power of the body infuses their language. She writes in white ink (396) 8. Woman as both Universal and Personal In woman, personal history blends together with the history of all women, as well as national and world history (397) 9. Do not deny a difference Bisexuality, neutrality, denies a difference that exists and works against women. 10. The Dark Continent is neither dark nor unexplorable (398) Brings elements traditionally associated with female (subconscious, darkness, supernatural) i nto mainstream Masculine modes of philosophical and psychological interpretation (sublation) works against women (399) 11. Flying is womans gesture (400) Note that voler also means to steal Metaphor for acquisition of own voice. 12. Upheaval A feminine text cannot fail to be more than subversive (401) Women need to take control of the symbolic note Cixous use of female symbols throughout the essay 13. Above all women must gain control of their own choices. Its up to you to break the old circuits (403). 14. General Stylistic/rhetorical Principles Ecriture feminine (never really defines this, but to do so would defy her own strategy) logos is phallocentric circular fluid structure no structure, because that which is fluid cannot be contained. Use throughout of feminine symbols and sexual language.