Bella Cixous

Helene Cixous wrote, “…that is not a provocation, it means the woman admits there is an other. In her becoming woman, she has not erased the bisexuality latent in the girl as in the boy. Femininity and bisexuality go together, in a combination that varies according to the individual..” (Cixous 16). This quote had me thinking very hard. Had there been a time when I had no questioned the nature of my sexuality? Had there been a time when I had not known I had both a connection with men and women? I am not by any means what society has termed bisexual, in the sense that my sexual desires is strictly for the male sex, but perhaps, I am bisexual according to the definition provided by Helene Cixous. As a woman, I have always known that I connect deeper with women than I do with men. Granted, I have never been in a serious relationship, so perhaps that will change once I find a life-mate. Cixous’ theories about the nature of women and femininity and bisexuality truly provoked me to think about my behavior in society, the way I interact with my sex and the opposite, and they way I view my sexuality. She later wrote, “I am speaking here of femininity as keeping alive the other that is confided to her, that visits her, that she can love as other” (Cixous 160). Women are able to be both masculine and feminine; we are fluid, free to move within our bodies, minds, and spirits. We have a no borders between the two halves of ourselves, the masculine and feminine. She asks the question, “why do men fear being a woman?” (Cixous 159) , and how they refuse to come into contact with the Other within their own body. I found this article extremely provoking on the nature of sexuality and gender, and am very curious as to what will be said in our discussion tomorrow. I think a common idea is that men are socially trained to be masculine, to avoid and distrust anything that is feminine within them. Perhaps it is not so much social as it is biological, but the again, who’s to say?