Luce Irigaray THIS SEX WHICH IS NO ONE Translated by CATHERINE PORTER with CAROLYN BURKE CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS New York Contents Originally published in French under the title Ce Sexe qui n'en est pas un, © 1. The Looking from Other Side 9 1977 by Editions de Minuit. Copyright © 1985 by Cornell University 2. This Sex Which Is Not One 23 All reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or must not be reproduced in any form without permission in 3. Psychoanalytic Theory: Another Look 34 from the publisher. For information, address Cornell Press, 124 Roberts Place, Ithaca, New York 14850. 4. The Power of Discourse and the Subordination of First pUOllsneo 985 Cornell Press. the Feminine 68 International Standard Book Number 0-8014-1546-2 International Standard Book Number 0--8014-9331-5 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 84-23013 5. COSt Fan Tutti 86 Printed in the United States of America Librarians: Library of Congress 6. The "Mechanics" of Fluids 106 appears on the last page of the book. The paper in this book is acid-Jree and meets the guidelines for 7. Questions 119 permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 8. Women on the Market 170 9. Commodities among Themselves 10. "Frenchwomen," Stop Trying 198 11. When Our Lips Speak Together 205 Publisher's Note and Notes on Selected Terms 219 5 1 The Looking Glass, from the Other Side THIS SEX WHICH IS NOT ONE ... she suddenly began again. "Then it really has happened, after all! And now, who am I? I will remember, ifI can! I'm determined to do it!" But being determined didn't help her much, and all she could say, after a great deal ofpuzzling, was: "L, I know it begins with L." Through the Looking-Glass Alice's eyes are blue. And red. She opened them while going through the mirror. Except for that, she still seems to be exempt foom violence. She lives alone, in her house. She prefers it that way, her mother says. She only goes out to play her role as mistress. School­ mistress, naturally. Where unalterable facts are written down whatever the weather. In white and black, or black and white, depending on whether they're put on the blackboard or in the notebook. Without color changes, in any case. Those are saved for the times when Alice is alone. Behind the screen ofrepresentation. In the house or garden. But just when it's time for the story to begin, begin again, "it's autumn. JJ That moment when things are still not completely con­ gealed, dead. It ought to be seized so that something can happen. But everything is forgotten: the ((measuring instruments, JJ the "coat, JJ the "case," and especially the Uglasses. JJ "How can anyone live without This text was originally published as "Le miroir, de l'autre cote," in Cri­ tique, no. 309 (February 1973). 9 Sex Which Is Not One The Looking Glass, ftom Other Side all that? JJ Up to now, that's what has controlled the limits ofproper­ woman ana a man closer together, today at jour o'clock. Since the ties, distinguished outside ftom inside, differentiated what was looked relationship between Lucien and Alice lies in the zone oj the on with approval ftom what wasn't. Made it possible to appreciate, to yet." Or "never." Past and foture both seem subject to quite a recognize the value of everything. To fit in with it, as needed. "That's what love is, maybe?" And his intervention cuts back There they are, all lost, without their familiar reference points. across some other in-betweens: mother-Alice, Lucien-Gladys, Alice­ What's the difference between a ftiend and no ftiend? A virgin and a her ftiend ("She already has aftiend, one's enough"), tall-short (sur­ whore? Your wift and the woman you love? The one you desire and veyors). To mention only what we've already seen. the one you make love with? One woman and another woman? The Does his intervention succeed? Or does he begin to harbor a one who owns the house and the one who uses it for her pleasure, suspicion that she is not simply herself? He looks for a light. To hide one you meet there for pleasure? In which house and with which confosion, fill in the ambiguity. Distract her by smoking. She woman does-did-williove happen? And when is it time for love, doesn't see the lighter, even though it's right in ftont ofher; instead she anyway? Time for work? How can the stakes in love and work be calls him into the first bedroom where there must be a light. His sorted out? Does "surveying" have anything to do with desire, or not? familiarity with the house dispels the anxiety. He goes upstairs. She Can pleasure be measured, bounded, triangulated, or not? Besides, invites him to enjoy her, as he likes. They separate in the garden. One autumn, JJ the colors are changing. Turning red. Though not for of them has Jorgotten "her" glasses by the telephone, the other "his" long. on the bed. The "[if!ht JJ has changed places. No doubt this is the moment Alice ought to seize. Now is the time He goes back to the place where he works. She disappears into for her to come on stage herself With her violet, violated eyes. Blue nature. Is it Saturday or Sunday? Is it time Jar surveying or and red. Eyes that recognize the right side, the wrong side, and the He's confosed. There's only one thing to do: pick ajight with a "cop." side: the blur of deformation; the black or white of a loss oj desire is compelling enough to make him leave at once. identity. Eyes always expecting appearances to alter, expecting that one will turn into the other, is already the other. But Alice is at school. No more about cops, at least for the time being. He finds himself She'll come back for tea, which she always takes by herself At least (they find each other) near the garden. A man in love and a man in that's what her mother claims. And she's the only one who seems to love with a woman who lives in the house. The first asks the second, or who Alice is. rather the second asks the jirst, ifhe can go (back) and see the woman he He is beginning to be ftightened, and begs to be allowed . So at four o'clock sharp, the surveyor goes into her house. And since Afterward. a surveyor needs a pretext to go into someone's house, especially a Good (common or proper) sense-any sense of propriety or lady'S, he's carrying a basket ojvegetables. From Lucien. Penetrating property-escapes Lucien. He gives things out, sets them in motion, into "her" place under cover ofsomebody else's name, clothes, love. without counting. Cap, vegetables, consent. Are they his? Do they For the time being, that doesn't seem to bother him. He opens the to the others? To his wift? To somebody else's? As for what is door, she's making a phone call. To her fiand:. Once again he slips in his, it comes back to him in the dance. Which does not prevent him between them. the two them. Into the breach that's bringing a from allowing others to take it. Elsewhere. 11 ---~.---... --- .. ---.­ This Sex Which Is Not One The Looking Glass, from the Other Side Lucien knows how to wait, even for quite a long time. His patience So he comes (back) itl. It's teatime. She . .. She? She who? Who's out ind~finitely, at the edge of the vegetable garden. Installed she? She (is) an other . .. looking for a light. Where's a light? outside the property, he peels. Prejerably beet stalks, which make Upstairs, in the bedroom, the surveyor, the tall one, points out cheer- little girls grow up. And lead them imperceptibly to marriage. From a Pleased at last to come across a specific, unquestionable, verifia­ long way off, very carefully, he's preparing a foture. Improbable. ble fact. Pleased that he can prove it (himself) using a + b, or 1 + 1, That's not the only thing he's peeling. Perhaps that accounts for his that is, an element that repeats itself, one that stays the same and yet arrival. Empty-handed. He doesn't even take the path, like everyone produces a displacement in the sum; pleased that it's a matter oja series, else. He comes across the grass. Always a little unseeml oJa sequence. In short, ofa story. Might as well say it's true. That he Alice smiles. Lucien smiles. They smile at each other, compliei­ had already been there. That he ... ? That she? Was? Wasn't? She. tously. They are playing. She makes him a gijt oJthe cap. "What For the vegetables no longer prove anything. {'I must have eaten will Gladys say?" That he has accepted a gift from Alice? That she them." "1" who? Only the "light" is left. But it isn't there to shore up has offered him that cap? A "dragon.fly" whose Jurtive flight volatizes the argument. And even iJ it were, no trace oj what has happened <giver's identity in the present moment. Who deserves more grati­ would remain. As for attesting that the light has moved from here to tude, the woman who duplicates the possibility ofsexual pleasure or there, or stating that its current whereabouts are known, or naming the woman who offers it a first time? And ifone goes back and forth Alice's room as the only place it can be found, these are all just claims between them, how can one keep on telling them apart? How can one that depend on "magic." know where one is, where one stands? The confusion suits Lucien.