Readings 18 Post - Modern Feminism
Readings 18 Post - Modern Feminism
Readings 18 Post - Modern Feminism
E-mail:
Shewli Kumar -
shewli4@tiss.edu
Swati Banerjee –
sbanerjee@tiss.edu
Ms. IshaNaaz
PhD Student,
Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
Mumbai
E-mail: isha.naaz17@gmail.com
Keywords Postmodern Feminist Theory, Feminism,
Feminist Theory
INTRODUCTION
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
The overall aim of this module is help students to understand postmodern feminist theory.
This module will explain the way postmodern feminist theories have developed over the
period of time. In order to do so, the debates on poststructuralism and postmodernism has
been discussed. It will help to understand the main arguments of postmodern feminist
theories and the prominent theorist who helped in development of postmodern feminism.
1.1 Poststructuralism:
Structuralism attempts to study the organisational structure and its relations as complex
system of interlinked parts. It was developed in 20th century by the Swiss linguist theorist
Ferdinand de Saussure and was later used by sociologists, psychoanalyst, anthropologists etc.
The structuralists advocate that thoughts and perceptions are not natural rather they are
constructed by the language used to explain them as language gives meaning to everything.
Therefore, structuralism studies signs, communication and symbols. (See
http://www.philosophybasics.com/movements_structuralism.html)Some prominent
structuralists are Marx, Levi-Strauss, de Saussure, Lacan, Piaget and Freud. These theorists
have emphasised the significance of language in building the power relations. To do so, they
have developed and proposed a system of thoughts which provided lawful and explanatory
deep structures. However, in 1970s a school, named postsructuralists,emerged that transforms
structuralism by advocating that the meanings that language produces are unstable, multiple
and open to interpretation; thus they cannot be fixed. So in order to analyse the meaning of
language one needs to consider the political, social and historical context in which it is
written or spoken. Thus, discourses and readers are situated; hence cannot be situated(
Sands&Nuccio: 1992). .
Tong further explains that according to Cixous, each of this pair is associated to man and
woman. Man is considered to be active, high, cultural, light and positive while woman is
considered to be passive, low, natural, dark and negative. Thus, we can see that in these
hierarchical oppositions woman is given a subordinate position. Man is considered to be
the “self” whereas woman is considered to be the “other”. Thus, woman’s existence in
man’s world is according to his terms. Either she is “other” or she is “unthoughtful”.
“After man is done thinking about woman, what is left for her is unthinkable” (Tong:
2013).
1.2 Postmodernism:
1. The perception about “stable, coherent self” who knows what it thinks and why does
it think so.
2. The opinion that rational power i.e. reason provides basis to “objective, reliable and
universal knowledge”
3. The knowledge acquired through reason is always “true” and universal.
4. The notion that reason has “transcendental and universal qualities” which means that
reason is exclusive of the historical and social experiences.
5. Reason, autonomy and freedom are interconnected in a complex manner.
6. The belief that power can be claim only through reason. Whenever truth comes in
conflict with power, reason decides the case in favour of truth. Thus, it cannot trump
reason.
7. The idea that science is the paradigm for true knowledge. This is because science is
objective and neutral in its methods. Due to this, it is also socially beneficial.
8. In order to mediate the knowledge produced by science we use language. As language
reflects the world which the rational minds of human beings observe (Flax: 1987: pg
624-625).
Tong (2013) argues that these tenets of Enlightenment dominate the thinking of most of the
people. Hence, in the postmodernists opinion “Enlightenment world” is fabrication of
people’s imagination. She explains that for postmodernist, neither the stable, coherent self
nor the rational power is capable of generating universal knowledge. Therefore, the emphasis
should be on generating local meanings as they are socially constructed rather than searching
for universal laws and theories. Thus, they criticize science for providing “objective”
knowledge. She asserts that power actually defines the truth and freedom is being able to do
what one pleases to. Science is as subjective and contextual as politics and ethics. Often it is
used to serve one’s own interest. Likewise, language too doesn’t portray the reality rather it
constructs the reality. Hence, the postmodernism critiques “legitimate”narratives of
humanists and propagate “legitimate” philosophy. This philosophy believes that there can be
many discourses which should be viewed in historical, social and political context. Further,
they object the binary categorisation such as class, gender and race as too reductive. Hence,
they advocate multiplicity, diversity and pluralism (Tong: pg273-274).
Postmodern feminism is a new branch of feminism that strives for equality for women within
the category of women. While doing so, they take into account the differences among the
women on the basis of class and race. Hence, it is intersectional in its approach. According to
Flax, the postmodern feminist theorist intend to:
Helen Cixous, Luna Irigaray and Julia Kristeva are the most prominent writers of postmodern
feminist philosophy. Rosemarie Tong in her book, “Feminist Thought: A more
comprehensive introduction” has discussed Helen Cixous. Helene Cixous is a novelist. She is
inspired by Derrida’s concept of “differance”. Applying Derrida’s idea of “difference” to
writing, she differentiated feminine writings form that of masculine writings. She argues that
in psychoanalytic framework, masculine writings are grounded in their genitals and libidinal
economy, which are symbolised by phallus. Therefore, Cixous request women to put
themselves in words. She urges them to write about themselves outside the world that man
has constructed for them. She describes woman’s writing as scribbling, scratching markings
whereas man’s writings are composed and full of so called human wisdom. Thus, masculine
writings are stamped with social approval. Hence they are too heavy to be changed. Cixous
insists women to write as their writings will transform the way western world “thinks, speaks
and acts”. This will eventually change the cultural and social standard. However, she warns
women that writing about nonexistence as existence i.e. to “foresee the unforeseeable” is a
straining and difficult task (pg 275-77).
Luca Irigaray is a psychoanalyst who was inspired by Lacan and Derrida. She developed
“feminine” philosophical thought as her main aim was to liberate feminine philosophy from
men’s philosophies. She argues that the kind of women that is known to us is “masculine
feminine”. She is not the real women rather the women that men see. This is because in
masculine discourse woman is not a women but a reflection of man’s imagination of her.
Hence, she urges that there is a need to see another woman who is “feminine feminine” i.ethe
woman as women see. This woman cannot be defined. If woman wishes to see themselves as
woman then they need to take three steps. Firstly, women should stop using masculine
language and develop female language which gender neutral. Secondly, woman should
develop female sexuality. With the help of lesbian and autoerotic practises women can
identify their potential. By exploring multifaceted body, women will be able to speak words,
think thoughts and do deeds that will displace the phallus. Thirdly, “women should mime the
mimes men have imposed on women. Women should take men’s images of women and
reflect them back to men in magnified proportions. Through miming, women can “undo the
effects of phallocentric discourse simply by overdoing them.” (Tong: 2013, pg 226-29;
Irigary:1987; also see
http://pages.uoregon.edu/munno/OregonCourses/REL408W03/Tong06/chap6a.htm)
Julia Kristivais a psychoanyast inspired by Lacan’s work. She adopts Lacan’s idea on
Oedipal and post-Oedipal stages with the Symbolic order and takes them further. She rejects
the idea of identifying “feminine” with female biology and “masculine” with male biology.
She argues that when the child enters Symbolic order, he/ she start identifying himself/herself
with their mother or father. On the basis of their choice they become masculine or feminine.
"The belief that 'one is a woman' is almost as absurd and obscurantist as the belief that 'one
is a man.' I say 'almost' because there are still many goals which women can achieve:
freedom of abortion and contraception, daycarecenters for children, equality on the job, etc.
Therefore, we must use 'we are women' as an advertisement or slogan for our demands. On a
deeper level, however, a woman cannot 'be'; it is something which does not even belong in
the order of being." (Tong: 2013 pg 230)
Thus, she argues that “women” is not natural rather a socially construction’. Therefore, it
cannot be and shouldn’t be defined.
Sands and Nuccio in their article, “Postmodern feminist theory and Social work”have
explained the difference as well as the similarities between postmodernism, poststructuralism
and postmodern feminist theory. They argue that though postmodern feminist theory is akin
to postmodernism, poststructuralist theory and French feminist theory; however, it critiques
both feminism as well as postmodernism. Like postmodernists, postmodern feminists also
criticised essentialism and categorical knowledge. They also highlighted that the earlier
feminist assumed that when they were using “women” they were speaking for all the women
including black women, women from the third world, lesbians etc. Therefore, they
deconstructed the category of “women” and argued that “woman” is culturally constructed
category with which only few women can be identified. In order to avoid this mistake, they
emphasize that it is necessary for feminists to specify the women about whom they are
talking. In this way, they will be speaking of about a particular “woman” rather than about
universal “women”. They explain that postmodern feminist also agree with postmodernists
that fixation of categories as universal explanation of reality is problematic. However, they
critique postmodernists for failing to take into account the importance of race, class and
gender. They argue that these are also categories which should be viewed as diverse.
Postmodern feminists were primarily concerned with diversity as they put emphasis on
differences
Further, they advocate that postmodern feminists share a political agenda with the American
feminism who believe that regardless of one’s perspective each feminist aims to change
social and political order to end women’s oppression. Thus, they believe that political action
is a necessary step to redress the injustices done to women. Unlike the postmodernists, they
believe in developing a theory and practicing it. In this process, the practise should
predominate the theory.
Sands and Nuccio describe that postmodernist’s emphasis on differences put feminists in
dilemma. However, this is acknowledged by postmodern feminists who also believe in
diversity and multiplicity. They argue that there is multiplicity and diversity of women;
therefore women’s movements reflect divergent and diverse interests. The postmodernist
emphasis on multiple and diverse voices is contradictory to feminist political action. Feminist
political action demands unity and action on defined women’s issue. In order to do so, the
political entities, based on categorisation, are necessary for organising collective action on
women issue. They argue that this tends to be overlooked by the postmodernists while
advocating diversity. On the other hand, the postmodernists argue that when feminists
command unity among women for political action they tend to assume that women are
homogenous group who share “essentially” same interest. By uniting women as one category,
feminists reflect the interests of the higher status women. As a result, they ignore the interests
of the black women, women from the third world and lesbians.
Tong (2013) has summarised the different critiques of postmodern feminism in the following
manner. Feminist criticise postmodern feminist for their idea of diversity. Though, few
feminists support their idea of diversity but most of them view it as potential threat to
feminist community as a whole. They argue that in the absence of an essentialist philosophy,
political action cannot be taken.
Postmodern feminist have been criticised for being overtly academic. The language and the
ideas are used in a specific manner that no one is able to understand what they are trying to
do. Hence, they are called as “feminism for academicians”.
Gloria Steinem says "I always wanted to put a sign up on the road to Yale saying, 'Beware:
Deconstruction Ahead'. Academics are forced to write in language no one can understand so
that they get tenure. They have to say 'discourse', not 'talk'. Knowledge that is not accessible
is not helpful. It becomes aerialised.”
(seehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jan/17/gender.melissadenes)
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