Work · Structuralism & Poststructuralism
This Sex Which Is Not One
Woman’s sexuality is plural, not one: essays on Lacan, Marx and the possibility of a language of her own.
Introduction
Ce sexe qui n’en est pas un (1977) collects essays and interviews written after Speculum, several in a deliberately playful or poetic style. The title essay contrasts a male sexuality centred on one organ and on the gaze with a female sexuality that is plural, diffuse and based on touch. Other pieces examine Lacan’s seminar on feminine sexuality, describe women as commodities exchanged among men (“Women on the Market”, drawing on Marx and Lévi-Strauss), and ask what a language spoken among women could be, as in the closing “When Our Lips Speak Together”. Critics still debate whether Irigaray’s strategy is essentialist or a parody of essentialism.
Connections
Criticizes
- Écrits1966 · Jacques Lacan
More works by Luce Irigaray
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