Seminar - Helene Cixous - The Laugh of the Medusa

What a great seminar.  I got so much more out of the essay because I had other peoples' views.

I read it, and found it confusing, with too much reference to penis/vagina.  However, Imogen started by explaining that in the UK, we write essays in the Germanic tradition - making various points, that lead to a conclusion.  However the French tradition, is to wander with flowery language, sometimes contradicting oneself, to get a thorough exploration of the subject.  This was a lightbulb moment in my comprehension of this piece.  Imogen also said the writing was of its time - mid 1970s.

Jen said she found it rather essentialist.  Another lightbulb moment.  I'd read the essay, and thought, 'Oh gosh, not again!  More stuff about penis/vagina.  What a yawn!' Whereas once Jen attributed the correct label to it, it all made sense - it was written in a time when women were trying to understand the differences between men's and women's work and in trying to gain the 'essence' of being woman/ female/ femininity, there was a somewhat one-dimensional focus on anatomy.  Mercifully we've moved beyond this - essentialism is one way among many that can be used to understand womanhood.

Jen also said Cixous contradicted herself.  Which she does.  Which I had struggled with and then skimmed over bits that did not appeal to me.  My training in reading academic articles, has been to only read deeply when the time will be well rewarded, and not to struggle with obscure stuff unnecessarily.  But again, Jen had analysed what was going on, and drawn a conclusion.  Whereas I'd just thought 'don't get that ... move on'.

Darren had read the article 5 times, and colour coded 5 different issues that he tracked through the writing.  I'd not thought of doing this.

We had a debate about what Cixous meant by women's writing. I'd taken it literally and assumed she meant script by women.  I thought she was saying women should validate their experience by writing, thereby using a male media, rather than working in the oral tradition.  Writing to me is male and westernised.  Whereas others in class felt writing meant any means of expression, oral/written/art/sculpture/performance.  Another lightbulb moment, that completely changed the interpretation of the piece.   I'd thought Cixous was advocating women to validate themselves by using script writing (in my opinion, a male media) to the detriment of other media, but the group conclusion appeared to be that she was saying 'express your self and your experience'.

I really gained insight from this seminar.