"Why does man fear being a woman?" (p. 159).
In this excerpt from "Shorties", Hélène Cixous offered some potent ideas about gender binaries and the natural opposition between masculinity and femininity. As she states on page 157, "Thought has always worked through opposition" and while one can't help but notice the contrasting elements of femininity and masculinity, Cixous presented an aspect of this relationship I hadn't previously considered-- especially in her dissection of bisexuality. While I'm familiar with the term bisexuality, I've only ever heard it used in terms of sexual orientation. I thought it was interesting Cixous' two definitions placed it more so inside the realm of gender identity and the feminine experience. I really liked her interpretation of it as "a fantasy of a complete being ... a fantasy of unity. Two within one, and not even two wholes" (159). As a queer woman who grew up struggling to fully connect to my identity within patriarchal notions of femininity, I found this really interesting and in some ways even relatable. But, I wonder if Cixous had written this in the 21st century if she would be referring to nonbinary identities and not a necessarily feminine experience. That being said, I do think there is an interesting relationship between this idea of bisexuality and femininity in regards to binary opposition. "Woman is bisexual" while men are "trained to aim for glorious phallic monosexuality" because of this historical opposition (159). If masculinity is portrayed as the superior being, the active participant, it makes sense that men would fear their identity being muddled with the inferior, passive feminine. Women stand to benefit from this conjunction of masculinity and femininity while 'bisexual' men stand to lose their place in the hierarchy.
Cixous also takes note of the opposition between speaking and writing, categorizing writing as a feminine space and speaking as a masculine trait. I would never think to place these two actions under this schema as both genders most likely participate in both on a daily basis. But, I think this excerpt from page 163 is the perfect evidence for her argument:
"Every woman has known the torture of beginning to speak aloud, heart beating as if to break, occasionally falling into loss of language, ground and language slipping out from under her, because for woman speaking-- even just opening her mouth-- in public is something rash, a transgression"
While I personally hope for the complete deconstruction of the gender binary and think that we are seeing more of Cixous bisexuality from both sides with the (at least to some extent) normalization of queer identities, I think it makes sense why man fears being woman when woman is representative of an 'inferior' identity we are trained from birth to reject. Feminine hobbies and interests such as boy bands and popular book series (such as Twilight) are seen as juvenile and obsessive while men are allowed to dedicate thousands of dollars and hours of their time to their favorite sports teams. Romance movies are deemed tacky while Sci-Fi is consistently praised in film spheres. Pop music is considered a money grab while male-dominated genres such as rock are considered "real music". Women are conditioned to think that not only their gender but everything even tangentially related to it should be seen as lesser than.
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ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting to read about the way in which Hélène Cixous defines bisexuality in “Sorties.” While the most common way to define bisexuality as a sexuality involving attraction to the same gender and other genders, Cixous defines bisexuality as “bisexuality-that is to say the location within oneself of the presence of both sexes, evident and insistent in different ways according to the individual, the nonexclusion of difference or of a sex, and starting with this ‘permission’ one gives oneself, the multiplication of the effects of desire’s inscription on every part of the body and the other body” (159). It seems as though women do not fear more masculine traits within themselves, as society perceives masculinity as superior. I agree with what you said about men fearing to be perceived as feminine, as society perceives femininity as inferior. Women portray the Cixous’s definition of bisexuality when they perform their masculine and feminine traits, while men portray monosexuality as they conceal the more feminie aspects of their identity. I agree with what you stated about women benefiting from the conjunction of femininity and masculinity, and men losing their place in the hierarchy, as women benefit from being seen as more masculine, but men suffer from being percieved as more feminine.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to agreeing with your comments about how the patriarchy encourages women rather than men to enact this bisexuality, I also believe that women have an easier time understanding the male experience than men have understanding the female experience, making it easier to enact this bisexuality. It seems as though individuals who are more marginalized have an understanding of their more privileged counterparts. In this case, women have an understanding of men, as they are perceptive to the experiences that they lack because of the privileges that their counterparts have. For example, as a woman, I understand that men do not have to worry as much about walking home late at night, or be extra careful making a plan to stick with friends at a party, because we have to worry more because of the prominent rape culture at colleges due to toxic masculinity. However, men may not be aware of how careful women are on a night out because they do not have to worry as much about their safety due to their powerful identity within the patriarchal society. Although Cixous’s definition of bisexuality is quite different from how we understand that term, it definitely addresses an important concept of women being more well-versed in the experiences of men, than men in the experiences of women.