The French Feminist criticism approach advocates new ways of thinking and writing for women. French feminists in general believe that Western thought has been based on a systematic repression of women's experience. Among the greatest French feminists who have advocated these ideas are Luce Irigary and Helene Cixous. Cixous argues that one thing that will liberate women's voices, their bodies and their sexuality is that: " Women must write hers self: must write about women and bring women to writing….Women must put herself in to the text – as in to the world and into the history-by her own movement."(875). Cixous Sees language as an active creator for women's oppression and invites women to writing by what she calls an ''ecriture feminine''.
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Irigary uses poetic language and the figure of lips both to subvert unitary, phallic models of sexuality and to provide alternative representations of female identity which emphasize autonomy and self- sufficiency, while also acknowledging women's interrelatedness .This description of female sexuality provides a significant alternative to the currently existing social system in which women function only as objects of exchange. French feminism has rejected the way in which the patriarchal society treats women as a property that can be exploited by men under various excuses and reasons. In addition, French feminism has resisted the Lacanian and Freudian theories about the female's identity. They have refused old psychoanalytical beliefs which take male sexuality as the norm. For French feminism, it is highly important for women to reshape their language and to go beyond the phallus to achieve joy which is called "jouissance". A woman should no longer fear to hold a pen and write her self and body.Both Cixous and Irigary disrupt the phallocentric mind/body dualism by valuing the body and language as a source of …show more content…
Cixous writes that it is still unexplored only because we have been made to believe that it was too dark to be explored. She also mentions the myth of the Medusa as an example of women’s oppression throughout history which keeps “regenerating the old patterns.” And that is, “For history to change its meaning, you only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her. And she is not deadly. She is beautiful and she is laughing.” (885) Therefore, women should rewrite history by deconstructing old myths and patterns.
On the other hand, American feminism focuses on practice. Its major aim is to resist what is inscribed about woman and rewrite it again. Elaina Showalter in her essay "Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness" uses the term ''gynocritics'' to describe literary criticism based on a feminine perspective."Gynocritics" aims to understand the specificity of women’s writing not as a product of sexism but as a fundamental aspect of female reality. In her essay, she analyses the four models that examine the difference between geocentric, the andocentric and cultural. The cultural model is" the most satisfying way to talk about the specificity and difference of women's
Irigary uses poetic language and the figure of lips both to subvert unitary, phallic models of sexuality and to provide alternative representations of female identity which emphasize autonomy and self- sufficiency, while also acknowledging women's interrelatedness .This description of female sexuality provides a significant alternative to the currently existing social system in which women function only as objects of exchange. French feminism has rejected the way in which the patriarchal society treats women as a property that can be exploited by men under various excuses and reasons. In addition, French feminism has resisted the Lacanian and Freudian theories about the female's identity. They have refused old psychoanalytical beliefs which take male sexuality as the norm. For French feminism, it is highly important for women to reshape their language and to go beyond the phallus to achieve joy which is called "jouissance". A woman should no longer fear to hold a pen and write her self and body.Both Cixous and Irigary disrupt the phallocentric mind/body dualism by valuing the body and language as a source of …show more content…
Cixous writes that it is still unexplored only because we have been made to believe that it was too dark to be explored. She also mentions the myth of the Medusa as an example of women’s oppression throughout history which keeps “regenerating the old patterns.” And that is, “For history to change its meaning, you only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her. And she is not deadly. She is beautiful and she is laughing.” (885) Therefore, women should rewrite history by deconstructing old myths and patterns.
On the other hand, American feminism focuses on practice. Its major aim is to resist what is inscribed about woman and rewrite it again. Elaina Showalter in her essay "Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness" uses the term ''gynocritics'' to describe literary criticism based on a feminine perspective."Gynocritics" aims to understand the specificity of women’s writing not as a product of sexism but as a fundamental aspect of female reality. In her essay, she analyses the four models that examine the difference between geocentric, the andocentric and cultural. The cultural model is" the most satisfying way to talk about the specificity and difference of women's