Cixous

Cixous
I found that Helene Cixous text from ‘Sorties’ eye opening. She talks about male privilege and how usually the male is dominant and therefore active while the female is passive. This also made me think of certain words in language today to describe women. The term ‘women” has the word men in it and the term “female” has the word male in it. Even when describing this gender, the male word remains dominant. Then we have this fixed notion of a male and female being together. Generally when this idea is broken, people start criticizing those who do not fit this ideal. They become labeled as homosexual, bisexual, transvestites and so on. Cixous defines bisexuality in two ways. First, as a fantasy of unity, a person not made up of two genders but rather two halves. Second, as the “multiplication of the effects of desire’s inscription on every part of the body and the other body.” (159) Cixous goes on to say that the woman is the only one who benefits from this. Males are terrified of homosexuality. I find this notion interesting. Personally, I think that female bisexuals are much less criticized then male bisexuals. This is largely due to the fact that a female and male together is natural and a female and female together is sexy. Males do not judge females yet they judge themselves when they are the ones with another person of the same gender. Males have always had this sense of being dominant, in power, and having possession. Homosexuality endangers this because it makes them appear passive thus no longer in control. It is unfortunate that there is this double standard in society today. Cixous goes on to describe feminine strength and liberation. The voice of women has almost always fallen on the deaf. The body, breath and speech of women needs to be un-censored. Personally I agree with this. In CMC 100, we did a magazine analysis where even though the female was the only one present in the advertisement, she was still somehow being censored. Whether this was by not showing her eyes, having her mouth covered, or being depicted as an object, females were still be shown as passive. This is something that needs to change. Many magazines talk about how females show feel empowered and independent yet the photos in the magazines contradict this.