Irigaray studied linguistics and philosophy before becoming a psychoanalyst. She taught in Lacan’s Department of Psychoanalysis at the University of Vincennes; however, after she published her book Speculum of the Other Woman (1985a), she was dismissed from her position by Lacan. Irigaray is one of the French feminists most interested in the concept of difference: […]

Weedon claims that French feminists have taken one of two approaches when attempting to make psychoanalytic theory the key to understanding the acquisition of gendered subjectivity. They have either accepted the terms of Freudian discourse, or advocated ‘psychoanalytic theory as a way of understanding the structures of masculinity and femininity, under patriarchy, together with the […]

Derrida’s destabilisation of logocentrism and binary logic challenged many of the same targets as feminism. His deconstructive techniques make it clear that if feminist theory is to succeed in its challenge to phallocentric discourses it cannot do so from a position outside of phallocentrism. As Grosz (1990a: 100) notes, ‘to remain outside a (logocentric, phallocentric) […]

Weedon maintains that Derrida, like Saussure, claims that meaning in language is a product of relations of difference, whereas Saussure argues for a fixed network of meaning. As Weedon notes (1987:24-25), the ‘post-structuralist answer to the problem of the plurality of meaning and change is to question the location of social meaning in fixed signs. […]

Weedon maintains that the basis of much poststructuralist thought can be traced back to a number of theoretical strands, including those of structural linguistics, particularly those of Ferdinand de Saussure. She (1987:23) notes that ‘An understanding of Saussure’s theory of the “sign” is fundamental to all poststructuralism. It is Saussure’s insistence on a pre-given fixed […]

Lacan’s reinterpretation of Freud has had enormous influence on French intellectuals. While many French feminists are critical of Lacanian analysis, even those who are critical of Lacan have tended to locate their criticisms within his framework. Particular criticisms concern his position regarding the inevitability of paternal law and the way in which he links the […]

Lacan’s work is highly obscure and the ambiguity of his style reinforces the ambiguity of much of the content of his writing and strengthens his claim that unambiguous meaning in language is an illusion. Lacan’s style, as well as the content of his writing, has had a great influence on French feminist writing. By repositioning […]

Feminism, sexuality and textuality: Derrida, ‘differance’ anddeconstruction Feminist theory in the 1970s was strongly influenced by psychoanalytic models of sexuality and subjectivity, which were in turn influenced by Freud’s work and by the French psychoanalytic theoristJacques Lacan. As Weedon notes, many feminists have attempted to make psychoanalytic theory the key to understanding the acquisition of […]

INTRODUCTION This chapter investigates the intersection of psychoanalytic theory and semiology with feminist theory and considers the implications for postfeminist debates. There are two spheres where these debates have made an impact. The first is the impact of psychoanalytic theory and semiology within the French intellectual tradition, particularly as a result of feminism’s engagement with […]

What could be more seductive for feminists than a discourse which, like that of Michel Foucault in La Volonte de Savoir (The History of Sexuality), focuses on the complex interaction of power and sexuality?…Alluring as they may seem, however, the apparent parallels between Foucault’s work and feminism ought not to deceive us. Feminists ought to […]