2038 / HeLexe Crrous tunrepress the obscured term—here, the Feminine—is likely to reproduce the very Structures he or she fs eslating, This s why Cinous declares, "tam nota feminist. Feminism, for her, putcipacs inthe sume logic of opposition as traditional logo centrtn or its companion, phallocentrism (the description of sexual difference a3 Aifference between having and lacking the phallus) [Nonetheless she acknowledges, the Female body fas been repessed. Indeed, any transgressive, desing bod)—and perhaps the body islf has been repressed. But maybe there ts no “body itll” only bodies that have had power and bodies that hhavent Granted, power and authority and lave have presuppored the male body — bur on the condition that no actual body be represented at al. Thus, both men and ‘women would have everthing leit say about the ody, and that “everything” would no longer fall neat into any given category. By writing a the female body could be asterted, Cinous's erture feminine fres i frm invisibly an, at the samme time, doesnot make nto «new mode! for the universal human being. The nee opposition innot between male and female, bt between a lpi ofthe One and lgle of het ‘rogeneity and maltipicy. ‘The incompatibility between denture feminine as assertion of the female body and ‘crite feminine ax capable of being written by men creates an impossible logic that [dora féminin. Such a wing practice ls bound to seem outrageous amon all ihe time, Responding msinly to “The Lavgh ofthe Medusa,” many Anglo-American feminiss have aeeused Cious of promoting “essentialsn’—that is, of equating Female wating with an idealized and umbistoreted “femininity.” And by makingsuch tlaime as “women are multiple,” “women are open to the other,” “women write in ‘shite ink” she does seem to be affirming some sort of "essence" of woman. Ie eould banged that there claims are mythic, performative and critical rather than deseep tive. Im her pune (voler at “steal” and “fy,” dépenser as “spend” and "unthink,” and blane ax both "white" and “lank”), she works on and i language, notin the empirical sword. "Essentliam” or ‘anatomical destin” isin one sense exactly what Cious is BIBLIOGRAPHY In 1969 Cisous won te prestigious Medici Prize for her frst novel, Dedans (trans. 1986, Inside), and she has published many writings since, fist called novels, then called fictions, then often not characterized; among those available in English a Ang: (197; trans. 1985), The Book of Promethea (1983; trans. 1991), and Maya, forthe Maraeltams for the Mandela (1988; tans. 1993). These are part mythic ‘auobiographs, part mediation, pact philosophy, and part petr, and the mobility of her syle get pronouns and structures of aess a range far beyond any person or