From: "jakki kate gunn spicer" <spice005-AT-gold.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Re: a topic
Date: Tue, 16 May 95 12:12:48 -0500


In message <950515171403_119562985-AT-aol.com>  writes:
> As far as I can see it, the problem with your questioning of Irigaray's
> "political effectiveness" is that you start from already accepting the
> academic/political divide you mention in your comment. Irigaray in her
> writing, at the same time as she argues "for " "the feminine" is all about
> undermining the established divisions such as male/female,
> political/apolitical, language/not-language. Questioning the political in
> Irigaray from the vantage point of an old divide, is,  I believe, to miss her
> thought. Which is not to say that there is not some questioning to be done;
> but it needs to be approached from a perspective of constant awareness of the
> risks of falling into, for example, the "french/american" binary to which you
> allude.
> 

yes, I knew that as soon as I wrote that, it wasn't saying what I meant it to 
say.  what i meant by all those seemingly binarized comments was that there is 
an historical, political and social particularity to the way american feminism 
has emerged and influenced those of us who grew up and live in the u.s.  I do 
not mean to imply that there is no exchange or influence between (for example) 
u.s. and french feminism, or that there are not similar currents of feminism in 
both countries, but that there is a different history at play, and that I am 
constantly reminded by the various political groups that intersect with and 
deverge from certain types of feminist thought in this country that there is a 
vital and urgent necessity to be politically and materially effective.  while i 
think that irigaray's work *is* political, and that there is no sense in trying 
to seperate her "poetics" from her "politics" (and i apologze that that very 
statement sets up a sort of divide), i can not help but ask who is this serving?
for whom is she writing?  under what conditions?  from what history/ies?  etc.  
I certainly find her work valuable and would not even hint that it is not 
worthwhile and important to read, consider and engage, but I think it is 
nevertheless important to let these types of questions haunt my reading.




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