Handout 4: Working with Gender and Sexuality

Feminism, Gender Studies, Queer Studies Who am I? What am I? Am I who I am or am I

what I am required to be?

True feminism vs. Pop/Straw Feminism

While the word feminism is more widespread than structuralism, deconstruction or
psychoanalysis, feminist theory is often overshadowed by all sorts of popular myths and
misconceptions. (Straw/Pop feminism = ignorant, false representations of feminism in popular
culture such as music videos, womens magazines, Hollywood culture, etc.)
What Feminism is Not:
it
it
it
it
it
it

is
is
is
is
is
is

not
not
not
not
not
not

against men;
against marriage or motherhood (housewife vs. career woman myth);
against women wearing bras or waxing their legs;
about victimization;
about the celebration of women;
just about women;

What Feminism is:

Started out as a political movement concerned with equality of rights. (Women did
not have the right to own property or to vote.)
Activism: the suffragettes (late 19th-20th century): womens organizations
actively fighting to obtain the right to vote;
Since its activist days, feminism has grown into a full-blown theory/ critical school
of its own;
Feminisms: diversity of voices, standpoints, styles, points of view.
Feminism is essentially about freedom (for all human beings): freedom from the
corset of patriarchal gender norms; freedom from gender-based discrimination;
freedom from discrimination;

The Three Waves of Feminism

1st wave (1910-1950): Political movement. Equality. (Women are and should be
equal to men)
2nd wave: Cultural movement. Difference (1960-1970s) (Women are different than
men and that difference should be celebrated).
3rd wave: Variety and deconstruction (late 1970s, 80s) (The Woman/Man binary
in itself should be deconstructed).

Feminist Literary Theory

Images of Women: early feminist criticism analyzed images of women in works first by
male authors, then by female authors. Positive images = good literature, Negative
images = bad literature; Considered overly simplistic and obsolete nowadays.
Expansion of the Canon: canon was political (most writers white males). Task of feminist
criticism was to rediscover female writers. Norton Anthology of Literature by
Women.
Deconstruction of Binaries
Woman/
Man
(feminine/masculine,
reason/feeling)

unconscious/conscious,

known/unknown,

 phallocentrism (patriarchy, Law of the Father, androcentrism)

and
phallologocentrism (Derrida, combination between the domination/-centrism of
men/phallo- and the masculinity of language/-logo-)

French Feminism
Precursors: S. de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
Anticipates feminism and in a way also Gender Studies. Images of women. Women
have to conform to certain models imposed by patriarchy. Myths of femininity.
Helene Cixous: criture feminine, embracing the possibilities of the pre-linguistic,
Imaginary stage (see Handout 3 Working with the Psyche, Jacques Lacan).
Women speak, not necessarily with language, but with their bodies. By doing so
they defy The Law of the Father (le nom du pere), refusing to fully exist in the
Symbolic order.
Julia Kristeva: the semiotic ( what is commonly understood by semiotics)
corresponding to the pre-oedipal, pre-mirror stage (see Handout 3, Working with
the Psyche, Jacques Lacan). Poetic, musical, rhythmical language without logical
structures. Feminine language is semiotic, masculine language is symbolic.
Oscillation between semiotic and symbolic.
Luce Irigaray: Specificities of feminine sexuality. Unlike male sexuality which is centric,
phallic and singular, female eroticism is pluri-centric (hence deconstructive) and
characterized my multiplicity.

Anglo-American Feminism
Precursors: V. Woolf, A Room of Ones Own
Why isnt there a female equivalent to Shakespeare? Because women writers were
pulled back by patriarchy and by material lacks. To write you literally need a room
of your own: your own space, both literally and figuratively.
Elaine Showalter: Gynocritics, from a room of ones own to a criticism of ones own.
Womens literature needs a specific critical framework.
Sandra Gilbert & Susan Guber: The Madwoman in the Attic Connection between
patriarchal oppression and madness. Like Bertha in Jane Eyre (Rochesters wife),
female writers have been kept locked away in the attic.
Feminism, Race, Ethnicity and Class (rift between White Feminism and colored
feminism. The latter claims that white feminists speak from a privileged position
and they risk overshadowing colored feminism. Less theoretical, more concerned
with experience. Taking concrete steps to improve the lives of women. Double
oppression: sexist and racial.
African-American Feminism: bell hooks, Alice Walker
Latina Feminism: Gloria Anzaldua.
Intersectionality

GENDER STUDIES
Sex vs. Gender: the biological vs. the socially constructed; anatomical vs.
learned/taught;
Performativity of Gender (Judith Butler)

Gender identity, gender expression and biological sex.

Queer Studies
LGBT
Compulsory heterosexuality (Adrianne Rich)
Heteronormativity (Gayle Rubin): sex hierarchy
Transgressive practices: cross-dressing