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, women’s magazines, Hollywood culture, etc.)

What Feminism is Not:

it is not against men;

it is not against marriage or motherhood (housewife vs. career woman myth);
it is not against women wearing bras or waxing their legs;
it is not about victimization;
it is not about the celebration of women;
it is not just about women;

What Feminism is:

Started out as a political movement concernedwith equality of rights. (Women did not have the right to
own property or to vote.)
Activism: “the suffragettes” (late 19th-20th century): women’s 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

 1stwave(1910-1950):Politicalmovement. 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: Varietyanddeconstruction (late 1970’s,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, unconscious/conscious, known/unknown, reason/feeling)
 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: écriture feminine, embracing the possibilities of the pre-linguistic, Imaginary stage (see
Handout3Working 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 One’s Own”

Why isn’t 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 one’s own to a criticism of one’s own. Women’s 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 (Rochester’s 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: GloriaAnzaldua.

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