annaiswriting, Macherey

 The excerpt from Pierre Macherey’s A Theory of Literary Production in A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader by Antony Easthope and Kate McGowan defines the importance of the relationship between the explicit and the implicit. This relationship between explicit and implicit relates to the binaries exhibited during class discussions, such as purpose and play, and presence and absence. For one concept to exist, its opposite must also exist. Macherey illustrates this concept of understanding opposites with, “either all around or in its wake the explicit requires the implicit: for in order to say anything, there are other things which must not be said” (Easthope, McGowan, 17).  The explicit is what is directly stated, while the implicit is to be implied. The explicit is the noise while the implicit is the silence. Every time someone makes a statement they are leaving certain elements out. These left-out elements can be left out intentionally or unintentionally. 

In our media today, the relationship between the explicit and implicit can be seen in feminist spaces. Some feminists speak on issues that predominantly impact straight, cisgender, and white women, while avoiding speaking on issues of race, sexual orientation, or gender identity. They explicitly support gender equality when it comes to women with similar privileges to them. However, when they are silent on other social issues, it implies that they are less supportive of more marginalized women. When it comes to issues of reproductive justice, some feminists make explicit comments that implicitly exclude transgender individuals from the conversation. For example, pro-choice advocates tend to say that woman should make the choice for herself, not the government. This implicitly states that women are the only ones who may need to get abortions, which excludes transgender men or non-binary men, who are also at risk of losing their right to choose. These statements also exclude transgender women by essentializing the female experience to their gender assigned at birth. Some of these feminists do not mean to leave transgender individuals out of the conversation, while others do. It is important to understand this relationship between implicit and explicit when advocating for equality in order to be mindful of who is included and who is excluded. 

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