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I’m still stuck on two of Cixous’ ideas. The first, that “Writing is woman’s” (160). The second, the whole subsection on femininity and bisexuality.
Personally, I find it so much easier to write my thoughts down and then speak them aloud. I feel that it is sometimes hard for me to work my thoughts out through spoken language. I also often fear that my voice will not be heard if I do not first collect everything and make sense of what I am trying to say. Perhaps writing is inherently woman’s because we are heard easier through the written language rather than the spoken.
As for the subsection on bisexuality, I think that Cixous’ main point is that women are almost expected to be bisexual. It is celebrated and fetishized by men and more accepted than men who are bisexual. Even though we have progressed as a society and are much more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community, I feel that we as a society still look at sexuality through the male gaze. Even lesbians are looked at through the male gaze and fetishized, almost as if lesbians exist for the pleasure of men.
While discussing this and how men are terrified of themselves being gay, Cixous also says “Why does man fear being a woman?” (159). This idea is so interesting. At the beginning of the piece, Cixous presents multiple binaries. The one that struck me the most out of these was activity/passivity. This reminds me of the binary of strength/weakness. Though we have made strides as far as gender equality, we still have a while to go. With that said, society still sees men or masculinity as active and strong, while women or femininity are perceived as passive and weak. Therefore, men fear being a woman because they do not want to be seen as the other half of the binary.
That’s all for now,
Aveyourfaveblogger
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