Trapnest, Cixous

The introduction to Cixous’ work “Sorties” seems very strange to me. Perhaps she is setting up a premise that we have inherent associations of what is masculine and what is feminine about things, even words. These distinctions are clear and immobile to us and our understanding of the world. These distinctions also carry interpretations of power and hierarchy. I am however open to suggestions of the proper interpretation to this introduction.

She then talks about masculinity, one of the key points I got from this section is, “Why does man fear being a woman?” I feel one of the main points in her article is that women gain a power out of the fear from men. These things include the benefit that women can gain from things like bisexuality. Cixous also discusses how women are capable of loving, while still retaining themselves. I think what she means here is that men are viewed as unable, or not supposed to love as women love.

Then she discusses the voice. This I feel is also very interesting, how she perceives women as having a voice and how that voice alters their conditions and affects their lives. She discusses the written word as being this voice for women and an empowerment. I’m not sure if she perceives this as being enough to change expectations or perspectives or just as a way to assist them.

I feel that she takes an interesting perspective on hegemony and masculinity. While I feel she believes that the male gender holds more power in society than the female he also fears her. And she gains power from that fear and her roles. All of it seems a bit jumbled to me personally, but I think she’s lending another perspective on how gender roles have an emphasis on day to day life and the interactions which occur between men and women.