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Thursday, July 8, 2021

Helene Cixous on feminine writing (Écriture féminine) explained

The phrase "feminine writing" was coined by Helene Cixous in the article "The Laugh of the Medusa". Throughout history writing and language have been in the hands of men, so female representation is also from a masculine point of view. There are no words and phrases in the language that represent the feminine, the sexuality of the woman and the feminine pleasure. Cixous argues that because language and social structure did not allow women to write, a woman's expressive ability is limited in advance. There is a difficulty in overcoming the hegemonic cultural image of the feminine , shaped by men and producing a new image. She criticizes the existing discourse and raises the question of whether it is at all possible to write as a woman. Despite this, in her writing work Cixous creates a unique and new feminine language. This language deals with the effects of diversity, exclusion and the struggle for identity. Cixous speaks of "feminine writing" without unequivocal acceptance of the writer's gender. Male writing is considered to be systematic writing, with a uniformity of linear time which is limited by rules. feminine writing is flowing, unclosed writing, Not committed to laws and breaking the unity and linearity of time and characters. In Cixous's writing she exemplifies ffeminine writing; Her texts create positive representations of women. At the same time, her texts, as well as expected from feminine writing, contain internal contradictions: Cixous presents a female representation on the one hand and on the other hand she argues that there is no unity in reality, no single feminine figure. Women are different from each other.