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French Feminist Theory This Page Intentionally Left Blank French Feminist Theory French Feminist Theory This page intentionally left blank French Feminist Theory An Introduction Dani Cavallaro Continuum The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017-65503 www.continuumbooks.com # 2003 Dani Cavallaro All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 0-8264-5885-8 (hardback) 0-8264-5886-6 (paperback) Typeset by Acorn Bookwork, Salisbury, Wiltshire Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall To Paddy, withlove and gratitude This page intentionally left blank Contents Introduction ix Chapter 1: French Feminist Theory: Backgrounds and Contexts 1 Beginnings 1 Existentialism and Simone de Beauvoir 11 1968 and Beyond: the MLF and its Discontents 15 Structuralism, Poststructuralism and Psychoanalysis 22 Contemporary French Feminism: Trends and Debates 33 Chapter 2: Sexual and Gendered Identities 40 Sex and Gender: Some Definitions 40 ‘Gender Precedes Sex’: Materialist Analyses of the Construction of Sexual Difference 45 Equality versus Difference: Unpicking the Symbolic Order 55 Chapter 3: Language and the Subject 72 Signs in Question: Addressing Linguistic Stereotypes 73 Subjects-in-Process: Julia Kristeva’s Philosophy of Language 78 Patriarchal Philosophy, Feminine Language: Symbolic Norms and their Transgression 85 Chapter 4: Patriarchal Institutions 94 The Home and the Market: Domestic and Economic Appropriations of Femininity 95 Decoding the Codes: Laws, Rituals, Customs 101 Unequipped to Think, Born to Swot: Women, Philosophy and Education 107 Chapter 5: Writing and the Body 114 Reinventing Language? 115 viii Contents E´criture Fe´minine: Irigaray’s and Cixous’s Psycholinguistic Perspectives 119 Inscriptions of the Body 125 Chapter 6: Power, Race and the Stranger 135 Sexism and Racism 135 The Stranger Within 137 Feminism and Algeria 148 Conclusion 157 Appendix: Anglo-American Connections 163 References 186 Index 199 Introduction gender precedes sex . sex itself simply marks a social division. (Delphy 1996: 35) we must move on to the rhetoric of women, one that is anchored in the organism, in the body. (Duras in Marks and Courtivron 1980: 238) our enemy isn’t man but phallocracy; that is, the imperialism of the phallus. (Fouque 1987: 52) theft, swindling, and embezzlement are done covertly; and to appropriate male people requires a war; but not so the appropriation of female people . for they are already property. (Guillaumin 1996: 72) history cannot do without the existence of two human subjects, man and woman, if it is to get away from master–slave relationships. (Irigaray 1996: 5) a feminist is a woman who does not allow anyone to think in her place. (Le Doeuff in Kemp and Squires 1997: 142) This book offers an introductory investigation of key concepts in French feminist thought, exemplified with reference to a range of representative the- orists and texts. French feminism is assessed in terms of both its philosophi- cal and its political dimensions. Developments in the field are historically situated in relation to the particular cultural and social contexts in which they have emerged and unfolded. The book’s approach, however, is fundamentally thematic. Thus, each chapter addresses a theme or cluster of themes reflecting the principal concerns of French feminist theory. The main areas thereby x French Feminist Theory explored encompass ongoing debates on the cultural construction and defini- tion of sexual and gendered identities; the relationship between subjectivity and language; the roles played by both private and public institutions in the shaping of sexual relations; the issue of embodiment; the relationship between gender, sexuality and race. Within each chapter, a range of positions put forward by critics of diverse theoretical and political orientations is dis- cussed. These positions are arranged according to two basic criteria, namely analogy and opposition, so as to convey a sense of both interconnections and divergences within the field under consideration. The gallery of illustrative figures recurrently discussed throughout French Feminist Theory: An Introduction features primarily the following authors (here listed in alphabetical order): He´ le` ne Cixous Christine Delphy Colette Guillaumin Luce Irigaray Sarah Kofman Julia Kristeva Miche` le Le Doeuff Nicole-Claude Mathieu Paola Tabet Monique Wittig Additional authors are brought into play as consolidating illustrations and examples: for instance, Marguerite Duras, Antoinette Fouque, Annie Leclerc, Franc¸oise Picq, Monique Plaza. Certain theorists and examples are explored in greater depth than others so as to enable readers to engage closely with representative issues and debates in the discourse. This is the case, for instance, with the segments on ‘Equal- ity versus Difference’, where the writings of Miche` le Le Doeuff and Sarah Kofman are foregrounded; ‘Subjects-in-Process’, which focuses on Julia Kristeva; ‘Decoding the Codes’, where particular emphasis is placed on the work of Luce Irigaray; ‘E´criture Fe´minine’, which concentrates on the the- ories of Luce Irigaray and He´ le` ne Cixous; and ‘The Stranger Within’, where priority is given to Julia Kristeva and He´ le` ne Cixous. Even in parts of French Feminist Theory where a range of theorists are panoramically cited and dis- cussed, especially cogent examples are accorded greater prominence than others in order to help the reader identify and situate distinctively influential voices and perspectives. At the same time, the book considers less renowned authors whose contributions to the principal topics here addressed are of a more marginal character. Their inclusion, however, is an important aspect of Introduction xi the book insofar as it challenges the reductivist trend that fosters narrow and exclusionary approaches to French feminism, by engaging with positions which have been hitherto scarcely considered within anglophone circles and hence contributing a novel perspective on the field. Concurrently, it encoura- ges readers to pursue further lines of enquiry in the course of their own research careers, specifically vis-a`-vis the interconnection between French feminism and Anglo-American models. Pursuing this lead, the book’s Appen- dix draws attention to at times obvious, at times implicit, connections between debates specifically initiated by French feminists in their particular sociohistorical contexts and the writings of Anglo-American critics bearing relevant affinities to those debates. The exploration of French feminist thought must take into consideration the specificity of women’s conditions in France and grapple with the ambi- guities of its culture. On the one hand, in France, as in many other Catholic countries, woman has been traditionally relegated to the private sphere of the family and hence to the realm of fundamentally domestic responsibilities. This segregational move has conventionally stemmed from deeply ingrained suspicions about the public display of femininity as a potential indicator of immodest behaviour. On the other hand, French history does not by any means lack prestigious female figures who have influenced deeply the intel- lectual climate of their days. Simone de Beauvoir is a case in point and this twentieth-century philosopher will be discussed in detail in Chapter 1.No less remarkable were the achievements, in earlier epochs, of women conduct- ing and co-ordinating the artistic and critical activities of lively salons – centres for the production, confrontation and exchange of often revolutionary aesthetic and political ideas. Madame de Stae¨ l in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and Gertrude Stein in the period between the two World Wars are eminent examples, in this respect. Madame de Stae¨ l’s salon was a distinguished centre of political debate both before and after the French Revolution of 1789. Promoting a spirit of tolerance and fidelity to the ideals of the Enlightenment, she both gained access to otherwise exclusively masculine political circles and herself organized in Paris, in Switzerland, indeed throughout Europe, sites of intellectual resistance to imperial power: that is, the negation of all the liberties she staunchly defended. Stein, for her part, was a revered critic in the world of experimental arts and letters, whose judgement was held capable of both making and destroying entire reputa- tions. She was also among the first collectors of works by the Cubists and other experimental painters of the period, such as Pablo Picasso (who painted her portrait), Henri Matisse and Georges Braque. At her salon, these artists mingled with expatriate American writers, such as Ernest Hemingway, and other visitors drawn by Stein’s reputation. xii French Feminist Theory These cursory examples indicate that there exists a tension within French culture between contrasting models of femininity. This tension is replicated, significantly, at the level of party politics. While it might be tempting to assume that the left is on women’s side and the right is inimical to women’s emancipation, it would be quite misleading to take this assumption for granted. There have, indubitably, been times when the left has advanced women’s rights.
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