Rubber Soul, Cixous

“If woman has always functioned ‘within’ man’s discourse, a signifier referring always to the opposing signifier that annihilates its particular energy, puts down or stifles its very different sounds, now it is time for her to displace this ‘within,’ explode it, overturn it, grab it, make it hers, take it in…” Cixous, like Lyotard, calls for waging a war on totalizing metanarratives. Only Cixous has specified which ideology to destroy—the one that suffocates the feminine. Man has created polarizations for all concepts, and woman is the opposition of powerful, active man. She is the passive and receptive symbol. The less important, most often ignored, and least valued individual in society. Cixous argues that woman is not taken seriously when speaking because “her word almost always falls on the deaf, masculine ear, which can only hear language that speaks in the masculine.” Men have always run our world. Marx would say that the winners write history, thus the roles women have played in history have been those of guilt and servitude. Man’s greed for conquest has resulted in complete ignorance to the gender that brought them into the world. Cixous urges woman to gain recognition through writing—a mode complimentary of the characteristics of the feminine. Cixous says, “That is why writing is good, letting the tongue to try itself out—as one attempts a caress, taking the time a phrase or a thought needs to make oneself loved, to make oneself reverberate.” Women are characterized by nurturing, repairing, accepting. And how does one characterize a man? “A man is always proving something; he has to ‘show off,’ show up the others. Masculine profit is almost always mixed up with a success that is socially defined.” I mentioned in my last post that in order for a prosperous change, humans should view each other equally. Many people have the misconception that women are equals in American society. They hold major offices and participate in the same roles men participate in, but the fact is that it is not true. Cixous is calling for women to make their voices heard and then prosperous change can finally happen.