Hl NB cIXous

OITHE lilEDUSA
l.t{E TAtJGll
(1e7 s)

abo'ut women's'writirtg: b or @ittt

it ailldo.,Womn must write her
have
to wrltlng; fom which theY
write'about women'and bringwomen
'away as violentlY'as' from their bodies-for
e .same reasons' bY the
put herself into the teit-'as lnto
with the same fatal goal' Woman nust
ld and into historY-bY her own moverrient.
the Past' I do not denY thar the
futiire rnust no longer be determined'bY
to strengthe n them bY rePeatin!1
of the rpast are.still with us. But tr refuse
the equivalent of destiny' to con-
to ,confr 'uPon them an t rremovabi liry
and the culcu ral. Anticipation is'
imperattve'
.reflctions are taking:shaPe in an area just on the pint of being
necessafilY bear the mark of our
tirne-a'tirhe 'during which the
the (feminine) new from th
b'realis attnay from the old;i,arid; rnore pr'eciselY,
(ld' n o nv e I le'de' t ancien), 'Ihus, as there' are no gronds
for establ ishing a d'is-
'bours,'but rather an arid millennial ground to break, what I sa.i has at least two
the unforeseeable; to
sides and two aims: to Lrreak up, to destroy; and'to'foresee
project.r :. " '
,I.wrtethisasawoman'towardwomen.Whenlsay..womn'''I,mspeaking.of
'womaninherinevitablestruggleagainstconventional.man;andofaniversal
womn subjecc *h" -;r, ;;i[ *otn and to t"it *:1::i9,]:
'o.'n"i' 'en'us
history. But first ', *;;;; ;; tht in spite of the enormiry of the repiessron

that has kept them in ,f," 'J",f"-that dirk which people have been trying to
no'general woman'
make them'accept ,h, attributt-there is' at'this time; strikes me
no one typical'woma. ", d";;"t-have in nmnon I will say'' Bu'! what
you canlt'talk about2
is rhe infinite richnesls of rheir,indivdual ccinstitutions:
more than
female sexuality, unifor*, hofnog"n"ous' classifiable into codes-any
you can talk about resembling another' Women's.i*ig::l
";"i;;t#ious
is inexhaustible, llke.i'rrrri"' p'in'ittg' writing: their stream of pn'antasms
ts

incredible.
gave me of a
I have been amazed more rhan once by a descriprion a woman
worldallherownwhichshehadbeensecretlyhauntingsinceearly.cn.ildhood.A
world of searching, ,f," of knowledge' on the'basis.of .t ty:t":.1T:
"tuUo'ution precise incerrogatton
and
experimentation with the bodily funccions'.a passionate
olhererotogeneity.Thispractice,extraordinarilyrichandinventive,inparricular
 348 gr-NB crxous

our sml
any debilitation. Our'glances'
exten
muths; our blood flows aid:we
thoughts' our
we never hold back our
lacking,'
t',:,What happiness for'us who are omll
ances; we orfselves and'we ex
itlpi."
everywhere!
From now on,' who,' if we saY so'
always. ' :'

It is cime to iberate' the New Won

by loving her for getting by;'fo-r gettt
out ahea-d of what the New Woman
movemen[ that gathers and'separates
than hcr self.
I wrire woman: woman musr write woman. And I saY that we must, for' with a
few
man, man. So only an oblique
onsiderarion will be found here of man; irrs up ro writing that inscribes femininiry; ex
him to say where his mascu-
linity and femininiry are at: rhis wiil concern us orcr through literature 655' lguages'
*, have opend rheir eyes
and seen themselves clearly.l at thiJvain scouting mission' It is
w<
Now women return from afar, from always: slightl'
from ..without,,, from the heath (while having increased very
where witches are kept alive; from berow, been iridiculusly small' This is a
t
from beyond "curture,,; from their
childhood which men hru:. bj."n rryi,rg we do n<
a"rp"rately to make them org"r, .on_ sPecies of female writers
clemning it to "eternal rest." The
firrl"-girfrn,l their,,ill-rnannered,,bodies im- workmanship is'in no way different
mured, well-preserved. ir.rtacr
they ever seethins unrerneathr
unro themselves, in.rhe
-irror.,nrigi,rifi. But ar" *";;; o, P,odut"s the classic
what an effort it rakes-there,s no end to ir-for intuitive-dreamY, etc')'3
the sex cops ro
bai their rhreatening ,"rurn. Su.t display
of forces qn both sicles L"t *" insert here a Parencheti
"
 THE LAUGH OF THE MEDUSA 349 i

tot centurtes been.immobilized in the'trembling equilib- i

that che strug.gle,lnt I

deadlocK'
ritrm of a
unconscious ts tm-
returnlng, arriving over and agin, because the
Hcre theY are' to lhe narrow room
have wandered around in circles,.confned
pregnabl e. TheY You can incarcerate them,
been given a deadlY brainwashing.
in which theY've but for a time only' As
get away with the old Apartheid.routine,
slow them down' their name, they
ro speak, at the.sam e time as they',rs' taught
soon as theY begin
can be taught thac their teritory is lllack: because you are Africa, you are black'
Your continent isdark. Dark is dangerous' You can't :see anything in the dark,
'all, don't go into the forest'
re afraid. Don't move;'you might fall' Most of
so we have internalized this horror of the dark'
violentlY,
have comrnitted the greatest crime against wome n. lnsidiously,
be.their own eneml es, to mobilize their
'have led them'to hate women, ro
strength againsr themselves, to be the executants of their virile needs
have made for women an antinarcissism! A narcissis m which loves itself
to be loved for what women haven't got! They have co nstructed che infa-
mous logic of antilove.
,:. :i We th! precocious, we the repressed of culture, our lovely mouths gagged with
-.:,pollen, oui wind knocked our ;f us, we rhe labyrinths, the ladders; the trampled
the bevies-we are black and we are beautiful.
.','';-$paces,
':,r.','We'i stormy,,d that which is ours breaks loose from us without our fearing
any debilitation. Our glances;'our smiles, are spent; laughs exude from all our
mouths; our blood floJs and;we extend ourselves without ever reaching an'end;
we never hold back our thoughts, our signs, our writing; and we're not afraid'of
lacking.
What happiness for,us who are omitted, brushed aside at the scene of inherit-
ances; we inspire ourselves and we expire without running out of brearh, we are
everywhere!
From now on, who, if we say so, can say no to us? We've come back lrom
always.
It is time to liberate rhe New Woman from the Old by coming to know her-
by loving her for getting by, lor getting beyond the Old without delay, by going
out aheacl of whai the ew Woman will be, as an arfow quits the bow wich a
novemenr'rhat garhers and separates the vibrations musically, in order to be more
thun her selL
I say that we must, for, with a few rare excePtions, ther has not yet been any
writing that inscribes femininiry; exceptions so rare, in fact, chac' after plowing
through literacure across languages, cultures, and ages,? one can only be starrled
at this vain scoritins mission. It is well known that the number of women writers
(while having in.rr"A very slighrly from the nineteenth century on) has always
been ricliculuslv small. This is a useless and deceptive fact unless lrom their
species of female wricers we do norfirst deduct the immense majority wl.rose
workmanship is in no way different from male writing, and which either obscures
women or reprocluces rhe classic representations of womeu (as sensitive-
tntuitive-dreamy, etc. ).3
Let me inr"rt her" a parenthetical remark' I mean it when I speak ol male
 HLNE CIXoUS
THE L

sPring forth. Our naP

^r rhe unconscious
or gold-nonasse
;n;rt dollars-black
e old game'
act which will not onlY:"relize'l
1

wftte' An givin
to her womanly being,
I
sexuality' pleasures'
her back her goods'
her
which'have been kePt under seal:
srructuro'in which'she has alwaYr
(guiltY of everything, guilty at
ever'
frigid, for being "too hot
ng any; for being
rly and not enough; for having
roo mothe
Nearly the enrire h rstory of,wridng,is nufslng rand for
not nursing ":' )-cear her
confound ed, wirh the h rsrory this emar
which,it is ar once the effect,
the s upport, and one ofthe of job of analYsis and illumination,
privileged ali learn to sPeak'
bqen one with,rhe phallocentric
tradirion. self that she mu st urgently
ft,is indeed that.same She is rt
self-stimu lating, self.congratula
try phallocentrism can't PossiblY be a good fighter;
VVirh some exceptions, rnale, his shadow' We must kill the fa
for there
I woul dn'r be writing (I -woman, have been failu res-and if.it werent one from breathing. Inscribe
the brearh-of
escapee)_in thac enormous,machine bY won
been operaring and turn tng
out its l,truth', for centunes An ct that' will also be'marked
who would go.ro any Iengths ..There have been. entrY into,historY, which
ro slip some thing by her'shattering
capable of loving love at. odds wirh rraditi To write and thus to forge for herself
and hence capable of loving righ
ofi magining rhe woman who would others and of wantlng the taker and initiator' for her own
hold out against oppressron
herself as a s uperb, equal, and consti political process.
hence ,,im possible" subject, their fe'
framework. Such a,woman rhe untenable in a real is time lor women to strt scoring
poer could desire only of ge
negate her. Her appearance
would necessarily bring
by breaking rhe codes woman'has known thd torment
on, if not revolurion-for ground and;lr
bastion was su
Pposed to be immu table-ar least times'entirelY lost for words,
ic,is. in rhe ,fissure. caused harrowing explosions. Ar ti a'feat, how Sreat:a transgression
it is for
.by an earthquake, th for
things brought on by a material rough rhar radical .mutation of month-in Public. A double distress,
upheaval whe.n very structure male ear,
thrown off balance and
an ephemeral wildness
is for moment almost alwaYs uPon the deaf
slips something by, for sweeps order awa y, that the poer
speaks in the rnasculine.
/inhi s yearning fo the a brief span, ofwoman. Thus did Kliesr 'expend himself i It is by writing, from and towrd women'
existence of sister-lovers,
srsters, who never h ung maternal da ughrers, mother- speech which has been governed by the Phall
their heads in shame. Once
rs restored, it,s time to
pay: rmmediare,bloody
the Palace of magisrrates inap lace othef than that'which is reserved
ments. death to the unconrrollable ele- place other than silence' Women shold bre:
''But only rhe poers-not rhe.noverists, shouldn'r be conned into accepttng a domain
aties of representationarism. Because
poetry involves gaining
srrength chrough th unconscious Listen to a woman speak at a Public gath(
conscious' rhar orher rimrress"coun"t and bcaus" rhe un- wind). She doesn't "speak,?' she thlows her
tosurvive: women, or as ir r;.,,.ce where the reprssed man^ge ol herself she flies; all of her Passes lnto hr
Hoffma" .;;i;"r;;, farres.
she musr wrire her serf, she vimlly supports the "logic" of her sPeech
because ,l;;ir";:'ililr'""
which, when the momenr of a ne, insuryenlwriring sell bare. In fact, she physicallY mateiializes
of her liberati;;;, come,
will allow her o* with her body. ln certain waY she inscribes v
a
:H *::'J 3$;:i*"J;;;;'-*iil, ' ". r' i,",v, *,1,,,*o
"rrry
r"u"r, deny her drives the'intractable and imPasstc
) lndividuallv. Bv wriring speech, even when "theoretical" or Policica
her self, woman will return
been more rhun'"on*"rrecJ
from h",, ,rnJ^nas.been
to the body which has tified," generalized she draws her storY tntc
stranger on display-rhe
ailing.or
rurned inro rr,c uncanny
d"r; fi;;;;,'which so ofren rurns There is nor that scission, that division
our ro be rhe the logic of oral s peech and the logic ofthe
::'"ifi :Hff :: il: ftrii;,' i iii'i ui,i""' c;;;;; ;;:n
y u na yo, re latio n-se rv ile, calculating-to mastery.
F
write your set' our body only the tiniest part t
service which engages
musr t"'ir-... onry rrren
wit the imrnense re- In women's tP*"tt, as in their writin
 t==).-eae?*r,-yytg\yJtL2
7e4e4ee=]
that' sources of rhe unconscious spring forth. our naphrha will spread, throughout the
h a ching tnaredwitingl world, withorr dollars-black or gold-nonassessed values rhat will change the
^s or admit-
il;'';t;t susPected
tYPicallY rules of the old game.
li,t--n"*" Pliticat' has been To write. An acr which will not only "rea|ze" the decensoed relation of woman
ritot"ltio., oi*ot"n fright- ro her sexuality, ro her womanly being, giving her accss to her native strength;
:"; a manner or f,rction;
that's
ir will give her back her goods, her preasures, her organs, her immense bodily
charms
il'it,iitt^g
.

(and not rerritories which have been kepr under seal; ir will tear her away from rhe
"". "it"-t.rPPosition all the superegoized srrucrure in which she has always occupied the place reserved for
?i' ," to"*--ihis beins of the guilty (guilty of everything, guilty ar every rurn: for having desires, for not
,"i'orJiJ.'t the ztery possibilitv having any; for being frigid, for being "roo hor"; fgr not being.both at once;.for
It"r""t;ive
thought' the Pre- l

and cultural structures'
being too morherly and.nor enough; for having children and for nor having any; ,i
for nursing and for not nursing... )-tear her away by means of this.research,
rhis job of analysis and illumination, rhis emancipation of the marvelous tex of
,l
her self that she musr urgently learh ro speak. A woman without a body, dumb, ,i
blind, can't possibly be a good fghter. she is reduced ro being the srvant of rhe l

milimnt male, his shadow. we must kill the false woman who is preventing the ti;

live one from breathing. Inscribe rhe breath of the whole *o-un. .

ir
b) An act that will also be'marked by wornan's seizing the occasion to spea, iiri
it,r
hence her shartering entry into'hisrory, which has always been based on hei sap-
t
tt I
pression. To write and thus to forge for herself the antilogob weapon.,f becone llll[i
at ill rhe taker and iniriator,. for her own right, in every symbolie,,system, in ev-
ery political process. illiti
tirt i
Ir is time for women to.srarr scoring their fears in written and,oral language; liiti
Every woman 'has known the torment of getting up to speak. Her .heart racing, lirlil
times entirely lost for words, ground and:language slipping away-thar's how lr.t!r ;i,i

a feat, how gear a rransgression ir is fo a woman to speak-even just i,

open
mouth-in public. A double distress, for even if she transgresses, her words !r

Ii
almost always upon the deaf male ea which hears in language only that lr
ij
,ti
speaks in rhe masculine
by writing, from and rowad women, and by taking,,up rhe chalrenge of il
which has been governed by the phallus; that women will confirm wornen il
other rhan rhar which is reseved in and by the symbolic, thar is, in a
than silence. Women shoLild break,our of the snare of silence. They
rlll
r;lllr
't be conned into accepririg a domain which is the margin ti:
orthe harem. tir
n to a woman speak at a public gathering.(if she hasn'r painfully, lll
lost her l

She doesn't "speak,', she thows her rrembling body.
forwardi she. lets go L
ir
she flies; all of her psses into her voice,;, ir's,with
her body that
supports the "logic " of her speech. Ftrer flish speaks rue..She I
lays her-
In fact, she physically ri.laterializes,what she's thinking; t
she signifes :it ti

In a certain way she insciibes what she's saying, ,because she doesn't tl
i1

ves rhe inrractable and impassioned part ,t

rhey.hav i n speaking. Her il

when "theorerical " or political, is never,simple.or

linear or ..objec;
ti

tzed: she draws.h er srory into history 'l

t that scission, th at division made by the'common mari,between :1

';
speech and rhe logic r;f rhe text, bound
as he is by his andiquated 'j
le, calculati ng-ro masrery. i
From whic.h proceeds the niggardly lip tt
engages only the
tiniesr,pait of the body, pls the,mask.
's spee ch, as
rhe irn in their writing; thar element which ne'ver stops
l;ro. onlY then will
 3sz ur.Ne crxous a

resonating, which, once, we've been permeated by it, profoundly

ribly rouched by ir, retains rhe power of moving us-that elemenr
first music fiom rhe first voice of love wh ich is alive in every woffi;
privileged relationship with rhe voice? .Because no wornan srockpiles
as
fenses for countering rhe drives as does-a man. you don't build
walls
self, you.don't forgo pleasure as.'wisely,' as he. Even if phallic
m
generall) contaminated good relationships, a woman is never
far
(I mean ourside her role func tions; the "mother" as nqnname and
as
goods). There is always within ,her ar least a lirtle of rhar good
morher's
writes in whire ink.
. wonan for omen.-There always remains in woman thar,force which
is produced by,the other-in particula rhe other woman., In her,
marix,
herself giver as her morher.and child; she is her own sister-d aughrer.
You
objebt, "What about, she who is the hysterical offspring of a, bad morher?l'
thing will.be canged ence woman gives woman ro rhe other woman.
hiddien and always ready in wor.nan rhe,source; the locus for the orher
mother' too, is a metaphor. It:is necessary and s,fficienr that the best of.
be given to woman by another woman for,her ro be able ro love herself
turn in love rhe body thar was '1born" to her, To,ch me, caress me, you
rng no-name' give,me my self as myself..The relation to rhe "morher," in
of intense pleasure and violence, is curtaired no more rhan rhe relation ro
hood (che child thar she was, thar she is, thar she makes, remakes, undoes,
flor
at the point where, rhe same, she morhers hersel0. Text: my body-shor the necessitY to affirm the
with srreams of song; I don't mean the overbearing, clutchy "mother" bur, rather, .movement, its near,and'distant bYwaYs
what louches.you, the equ ivoice that.affecrs you, fills your breasr with an urge ro which ''has' always.worked
come to language and launches your'force;,rhe.rhyrhm that laughs you; rhe inri- too' to.tris laws, is onlY' a histr
now
,r,nte recipienr who rnakes all meraphors possibre
and desirable; uoy (uoay uo- more and more rapidlY :pervasive
ies?); no more describable rhan god, the Soul, or rhe Other; rh a. pa. of you thar .of femininity.,(2) lFhao it is through ig
,to;ladrnit o
'leaves a space between yourself and urges you ro inscribe in ranguage your ers of both.sexgs'hesitate
woman's style,,In women there is always more or less of the motherlno nence of a distincrtion between femil
-utes
everything all right, who nourishes, and who srands up againsr separarion; a force be said, thus disposing of sexua'l difft
that will not be cut off bur will knock the wind out of rh codes. we will rerhink that it materializes;iis feminine; or' tr
womankind'beginning with every form and every period of her bodv. The Ameri- that the act of writin is equivalent to
cans remind us, "we are all Lesbians"; that is, don't denigrare woman, don't make who writes. cuts herself out a paper p
ofher whar men have made ofyou. ! ter, which again <loes away with difte
Because rhe "economy" of hr drives is prodigious, she cannot fail, in seizing working (in) the in'betni;feen,' inspect
the occasion ro speak, co rransform direcdy and indirectly a// systems ofexchange withouiwtrich nothing can live' und'
based on masculine rhift. Her libido wilr prod,uce far more radical effects
of po- to want the two, as well as both"the
litical and social change tha'some might,like to think. in sequences oirtruggl" nd expulsi
Because she arrives, vibrant, over and again, we are at rhe beginning of a new dynamized by'an'incesSant process
history, or rather of a process of becoming in which several hisrories inrJrsect wirh process of different subjects know
one another. As subject for history, woman always occurs simultaneously in sev- ;n"*;ni; from the living boundari
a
.eral places. woman un-thinks4 rhe unifying, regularing hisrory rhat homogenizes course w,ith millions of encounters
and channels forces, herding conrradicrions inro a single barrlefield. In woman, .^J;; ;i" in-between' from wh:
personal history blends rogether wirh the hisrory of all women, as well
as national tur.r; but that's his other historY)'
and world hisrory. As a rnilitanr, she is an integral part of all liberations.
she musr ln saYing "bisexual' hence neute
be farsighred, nor limired ro blow-by-brow interaction. she foresees rhar
her lib- uir"*"itvi which; squashed under
eration will do more than modify power relarions or ross the ball over (tho
ro the other ,r," t"tti of a "total" beig
 THE LAUGI{ OF THE MEDUSA 353

can sociality'
coming; i t's not a dream, though it does
extend beyond
The new historY is them of their con-
and for'good reason. It's going to'deprive
men's imaginatton' enticement machine'
ceptual orthoPedics'
begin ning with the destruction 'of their
of writing' and this'is an imPosst-
It is imPossible to define feminine Practice
,a
enclosed, coded-
chat will remain' for this practioe cah never'be theorized;
ial'ways surp ass the discourse
.doesn't mean that it doesn 't exis. But it will
:ir does and will take Place
.in areas ther
regulates the.p hallocentric system;
domination. It will be con-
thoSe su bordinated to P hilosophico-theoretical
of automatts ms, by periPheral fig-
of only by subjects who.are breakers
that no authority can ever subjugate'
give form to its
the necessity to affirm he flourishes of this writing, to
lts near and distant bYwaYs. Beat in mind to begin
with (1) that sexual
of reducing
irion, which has always worked for man'ls Profit to'the Point
There is, there will be
too, to his laws, is onlY a historieo-cultural'li.mit'
uces ir,reducible effects'
more and more rapidly pervasrve now a'fiction that Prod
of fernininity, (2) Thar ir is through ignorance that most readers, critics, and writ-
ers of both sexes hesirate .io adrnit or deny outright the possibilitY or the Pertt-
nence of a disrinction between feminine and masculine writing. It will usuallY
be said, thus disposing of sexua.l difference: either.t'hat all wridng, to the extent
that it materializes,.is fominine; or, inversely-but it comes to the'same thing- I

that the acr of wriring is equivalent to masculine masturbation (and so the woman
I

rl
,l
;,i I

who writes cuts herself out paPer penis); or that writing is bisexual, hence neu- il
rilr
ter, which again does away with d'ifferentiation' To admit that writing is PreciselY
il
ltL
irt

working (in) the in-between, inspecting the process of the same and of the other
.ilr
-lr I

ii!
without which norhing can live, undoing the work of death--:-to admit this is first .ril !!'
ii
to want the two, as well as both,'the ensemble of the one nd the other, not fixed
l 'l
l,l
:i
but infinicelY
ln sequences of struggle and expulsion or some ocher form of deah ii
t

dynamized by an incessant process of exchnge from one subject to another' A 1r

process of differenr subjects knowing one another and beginning one another
anew only from the living boundaries o f the other: a multiple and inexhaustible
:

course with millions of encounters and transformations of the same into the other
and into the in-between, from which wornan takes her lorms (and man, in his
turn; but thar's his other history).
ln savins "bisexual. n"n"" .,"ur",,'r I am referring to che classic conception.of
bt*-;;i;;:*i*,lo*u;;hed under the emblem of castration fear and.along with
,n" f.r*.i ;;r"i"r" being (rhough composed ol two halves), would do away
"i.
 3s4 ur-Nn crxous

experienced as an operation incurring Let the Prte

i,:L'ffr::;'lce loss,
clesire
for realitY!
To rhis self-effacing, merger-ryp e bisexuality, thcir
uPt
tation (the writer who puts up his sign:
which would if they fall aPart B
"bisexual writren for th ern have one'
when rhe odds ,are good thar it's neicher r doesn't
kexuali4 on which every subject nor enclosed
one nor the other), I t the mothe be, tsn 't the worst' ln
in the false theater n't ch e wofst .to the'S
represenrarionalism has founded hi s/her on ly to stoP listentng
erotic universe. have You onlY ha
oe's,locarion in self (reprage en soi) of chanBe
its mean ing?
rhe p resence-various b'eau
'torY r() not d eadlY. She's
slstent according to each .person, male
or female_of both, hcr Ancl sh e's unrepresen
sec two
eirher of the difference or ofone sex, sexes, rhat there are
and, from rhis 'lself-ermission, len say feminihitY ro
carion of rhe effecrs of the inscription use they need
of desire, over all parts of my Thar's treca for themselve
orher body. .that givc
em a hard -on!
moving backu
Perseuses
Now ir happens thar at present, for historico-cultural .3 trem to lost
minute
are opening up to and benefiting from it is
ras ons, ks! Not anther
rhis vatic bisexuality which is nottimp
differences bur srirs rh 9rn up, pursues hurrY: the continent
them, increaqes theirnumber. one day to run into Jean '
way, "woman is. bisexual"; r-i.'.5 overjoYed
a secfet to no one-being Thero are
gloriou s.phallic monosexuality in v iew. rhero led bY his Jean:
By virtue of'affirming che nllllty:
phallus and of bringing ir into play, phallocradc
yet to be writtel
.
ideology hs claimed most everYthing is
one victim. As a woman, I've been clouded
ter and been told: idolize ir, that which
over by the great shadow that is, its infi nit and mobile
you cannor brandish. But ar iturn'ons of certain .miniscule-imi
trme, man has been handed that groresque
rmagine) of being reduced to a single
and scarcely enviable destiny but about the 'adventure of such
idol with clay balls. And consu abrupt and gradual awakenin
Freud and his followers note, by a fear
of being a woman! For, if and,soon co be forthri ght. A womat
was constituted from woman, to repress
femininity (and nor so successful a ,of ardor-once, bY s mashing Yol
Dression fi- have mad e it clear),
its account of,masculine of meanings tht run'thrug
now hardly refurable: as wirh all the
"human" sciences, it rproduces the mother tongue reverbe
line view; of w.hich it,is one of the effecrs.
been tuined wY'from our
I

Here.we encouner the in evirable man-wirh

-rgcjk, standing erect in his 'thern:with that stuPid sexual
Freudian realm, in the way thar, ro rake
.gulsttcs rs conceprualizing
rhe figure. back to the point where lin- fool:s garne: each on will love the'
ir ..anew,', Lacan preserves ir in .the,sanctuary of rhe 'give me mine. But who are the met
,/ phallos (0) "sheltered" from castration's.lac
/ Their 'isymbolic" exists, it holds :blindly yield to them? WhY so fewter
power-we, the sowers of disorder know
, it only too well. Bur we are in no way back rheir body. Women must write t
obliged to deposit our lives in their banks
of lack, ro.consider the constirution of impregnable language that will wreck
the subj ect ln,terms of a.drama manglingly
restaged, ro reinstate again and again and codes, they must submerge' cut
the religion of the farher. Becau se we don't
want that. We donlt fawn around the discourse, including rhe one that laug
supreme hole. We have no woman ly reason
to pledge allegiance to the ne\ailve. "silence," the one chat, aiming for'r
,The feminine (as the poers suspected) affirms:.,.
. And yes,l' says Molly, carry- f impossible"
and writes:it as "the en
ing Usses off beyond any book and toward
the new writing: ,,I said yes, I will Such is the strengrh of women th
Yes."
mous thread (just a'tiny little thread
,' Ti Dar continent is neitier lari nor
unexplorale.-rr is
still unexplored onry umbilical cord, assuring them-cithe
'because we've
been made to berieve rr,^, ir'*., roo is always right behind them' u'atchi
dark to be exprorabre. And
:bcause they want to make us believe
rhar whar inrerests us is the white conti- trp to the impossible.
nenr, wirh irs monuments to Lack.
And we believed. The, rivet u, b"r*""n
lwo horrifying myths: between the Nledusa
and the abyss. That would be enough Wl.ren the "repressed" of cheir cultu
to set
half the world laughing, excepr that it,s
logocenrric subrations
srill going on. Fo the phallo_ arerl! desurctive, staggering return
is wirh us, and lrt -iiiiunr, regenerating rhe old parrerns, to thl most loibidding of suppresst<
anchored in rhe dogma of casrration.
Tn"y haren'r changed a rhing: rhey,ve rheo- end, women will have been either
 THE LAUGH OF THE IVIEDI]SA

we're going co show them

reality! Let the priests tremble'
re for
thcir dcst aren't men,
uPo n discovering that women
if theY fall aPart convenient for them?
for them one' Bu t isn't this fear
doesn't have women aren't castrated, that
nother
be, isn't lhe worst, tn truth, that men) for his-
wofst Sirens (for the Sirens were
n'r the
to stoP liste ning'to he Med usa straight on to
e onlY You onlY have to look
at,the
rneaning?
change lts baudful and she's laughing.
sh e's not deadly' She's <leath and the feminine sex'
c her' Andthat there are two unrepresentbie things: ,wich death; it's the jitcers
saY
theY need fem
inihity to'be as sociated at
:f^lttt's becattse for themselves !They need to be afraid of us' Look
ve hem a hard-on! clad.in aPotroPes' What
moving bai:kward toward''us'
rrcmbling Perseuses of'here.
mtn ute to lose. Letls get out
backs! N ot another
ls not impenetrablY dark. I've been there ofien: I
hurry: the continent 6 He had
Geriet; It was in PomPes funbres
one day to run 'into Jean 't afraid
some men (all too few) who aren
led bY his Jeari: -There are
about their
bY women abou t femininicY:
everything is iet to tie written about their eroticization, sud-
infinite and,mobile'comPlexitY,
,its
abo'ut des-
area of their bodies; not
f'a iertain 'miniscule:immeirse
such a drive' about triPs, crossings,
but bout the jadveriture of such and azone at one time tlmo-
iabrupt and gradual awakenings, discoveries of
one thresh-
bodY, with its thousa nd and
soon, to be forthright. A wonin's the
censors,'she lets it articulate
of ,ardof-once; by. sma'shing Yokes and make the o1d
direcrion-will
of rneanings that ru'n'thrugh it in everY language:
one
mother,tongue jreverberate with more than
taught to ignore them,
been tuTned' awaY''from or:bodies;' shamefullY
ie've been made victims of the
,with chat'stuPid sexual rnodestY
give you your bodY ahd you'{l
fool's garne:'each one will love the other sex' I'll
the bodY that women
me mine. But who are the men who give women
have as'Yet won
blindly yield ro them? Why so fw;texts?'Because so few women
theY must invent the
-back their body. Wornen mu st write through their bodies,
'and rhetorics, regulations
impregnable language tht will wreck partitions, classes,
and codes, rhey must.su bmerge, cut [hrough, get beyond
the ultimate reserve-
discourse, including rhe one that laughs at 'the very idea of
pronouncrng the word
stops short before che word
"silence," rhe one rhar, aiming for 'th.e imPossible,
"impossible" and writes:it 5 "the end'f'
Such is the strength of women that' sweeping away'syn^tax'
o'"i|t:T..:1i:::^
for men as a surrogate
mous thread (ju,t u'tit'y'ii"r" irtt""' ttrey say) *hi"h'u"tt old lady
umbilical cord, assuring they couldnrt come-that the
,rl"-"'r'"'wise women will go right
rs always righr behind ,ft"rr,' *u,"t'ing them make phallus'
uP to the impossible.

returns' it's an explosive'

When the "repressed" of cheir culttlre and their society
unleashed and equal
uterl! destructlu., ,,ugg";;;;;;", *itl't n fo'"" n"u"'y"'
Phallic periocl comes to an
to the most foibidding;;;;;;i;ns' Fo.1 when che
up io th" highest and
ehd, women will have u""!it'"' annihilateJr borne
 356 FII,ENT CIXOT]S

ll
!j

t
4 et- e=-7 e.- et=J t:) tt=J e==- il

;ir histor-v, theY have lived in I

ronic rcvolrs.
vulnerability, equal to their
limarecl; they've saved their
ng rhe mpasse of lives with-
umpruous bodies: admirable
uous moments imPossible q
carnal and passionate body
:ring denunciations, dazzling,
nodesty. Those who, with n
rnous immensity of a hisrory
rry of men and from biblico-
yesterday, who come as fore-
:rive relation will ever be rhe
body, you are the true "mis-
ill be seen at work when your
againsr your breast, but wrir-

rrd social success, .coward sub-

,e wriing. For a long,time it
persecution, ,to the familial-
d attempts at castrating rhem:
seven times before.no!
reir tongues and their rnou
w up the Law: an'
rht now, in language. "
mbered with the ol
r invincible adversary
stn't leave them a single

icourse of man, a signifirin

which. annihilates its
ounds, ic is dme for, her
, and seize it; to'make'it
hat tongue with hr vorry
: of. And you'll see with
e "within" where once she'
I cover the foam.

rs, rheir concepts,,[h9ir Places'

- because chere's a risk of iden-
t's leave it'to the worriers'
to
rminate the waY things work-
to
,rk." lor us the Point is not
blematic of the
shall have a great deal to saY abou t the whole decePtive Pro
Woman is obviously not that womaR Nietzsche
dreamed of who gives onlY
? Who else u'ut
to.e Who could ever think of the gift as a gift-that-takes
the one who would like to take everythi
ng?

,i", o*'t^rn"r1" ^ttt through tqpropriety of woman," it is ParadoxiallY her caPacttY to depropriate'
"parts.i' If.
body without encl, without aPPendage, wt thout PrinciPle
it flY' We.have
all
t's a whole composed of parts that are wholes,
not slmP le parti4l
and making
;;;';;;.i,u,i' *"'u" o"n moving, limitlessly changing ensemble, a cosmos tirelesslY
travers'd
awaY' find'
lo t,.nring
'"'ti"n'
HLNE CIXOUS

ir's their business t<

ouf a rnusefnent)' them (we the mate

ehat we
'll assure
t still can, that it's still th
that heY In the ch
ng fitted
with a feather.
bit of skin 'arour
not that famous
traced back, excePt within
cannot be su
of fate' to those mechanieal
some form
s ofso me
eternal "jealous woman"
or to some sort of
homosexualitY
a child doesn 't mean thac the wor
of m ust reharge the circuit of
patterns
an inevitable traP
may women be spar
ess-ralstng' of a suppldment of in
don't-tiatl Yout' busine.ss. Let nobody-tl
not the fear of becoming the accomplic,
of being "takeR'" And rnan, s:yol,l sti
and passivity, afraid lest the'child mak
a kid he woman land herself more t
child-mother-father-family? Nr
It will be up to man and woman to rel
all its consequpnces, to consider the lau
defamilialization. Let us demater-patr
effort to avoid the cooprarion of'procret:
ize. Ler's ger way from the dialect
is a dead one, or that rhe child is the c
but the orher without vio'lence, byas
reuniting of bonds forever to be severe
down and'genelogized, We wonlt a
to repress somerhng so simple s the
drive-all these drivs are our streng'
like the desire'to write: desirt
swollen belly, for language, for blood. V
pen to strike our fancy, the unsurpasse,
actually been always exggerated or:conju
texts. For if rhere's one thing thar's been rr
ic in the taboo of rhe pr"grrui woman. Thir
tnvested wich at the time, because ii has
pregnanr, rhe woman nor only doubles h
lIlportant-takes on intrinsic value as a wo.
acquires body and sex. .
u
There are rhousands of ways of living or
with that still invisible other relationship
have that parricular yearning, it doesn't mea
body distributes in its own special way, witl
changing totality of its desires:. Decide for
of contradictions, where pleasure and rea.
Women know how to, live detachment; giv
ing. k's adding to life an other. Am I drea
THE LAUGH OF THE MEDUSA 359
 360 ur.NB crxous
:
li
defenders of ,,theory," rhe sacrosancr
yes_men of Concept,
lus (bur not rhe penis):
Once more you'll sav thar all this
smacks.of ..idealism,,, or
splutter that I'm a ,,mysric." what's
And whar abour the li bidol Haven't
I read the ..S
ignification of
li And whar alout separation, what
I about that bir of selfi fo,which,
undergo an a blarion-an ablation, so
:
they say, to be forever
i your desire?
li Besides, isnt it evidenr.rhar
j:
rhe penls gets.atound in mYr ;textS,
j'l
placg and appeal? Of course
I do; I want ll, I wanr a ll of me that I
WhY should I deprive m wirh all
i! YsElf .of a part of us? I want all of us. Woman,
Il has a desire for a loving des
ire" and.not.-a jealous one. But
ir;
gelded; nor because she's deprived nor because
1cr loae.-In the beginning are our
;,
i and needs to be filled ouq like
l! person who wants to console some
+4 hefself or seek vengeance. don't
decorare my body wi rh..But ,I want a
l'J

I do desire.rhe o,ther for the other,
rnale-or fe.rnale; because living whole and
ti{ mhan5 wantlng everythi ng that
B Iives, and wanring ir alive. is,
tifl Casrrarionl Let others toy wi th it,
BI
tx nattng fromalack?Aprerty meager Whar's a
frl desire.
,The: ,woman who srill yher ,one;iq always irfinitely more t
allows herself to be rhreatened
w
still impressed by rhe commorion byrthe big dick, of,ever,reaching a limir; she rhrills i
of:the phallic srance, who still leads
ter ro rhe beat of rhe drum: that's a loyal She cuts through,defensive lover
the woman of yesterday. They
J

and numerous victims of the still extst, 'narcissism,,in the moving, open, t
oldest of farces: eiher they're cast

t silent versions in which, as trtanesses in rhe the srruggle-to-rhe-death rhat's b
fr lying under the mounrains rh ey make
I their quivEring, they never see that claim5 to repiesenr'exche
erected that theoretic monument
I
I phal lus looming, in the old to the be fed by'hatfed: Hatred: a herira
manner,,over their bodies. Or,

their infans period and into rhe comi ng roday io tre' phalus. To lve, to watch
J
second; "enligh tened" version
I
debasement, they'see themsel of their . Docs rhis see.
I vEs suddenly assauld the
j
lytic empire fld, as soon as they've: by builders of the ghat has n
begun ,to formulare tl,r.e new desire,
rlameless, so happy ar making PoYides,, agai,$Ql, he lack and sr
an appearanc-e, h ey're raken
ngw old. Fen, nl then, whoops! in rheir bath by rhe exchange that r:Oultiplis. ;Wherev
Luring them with flashy signifiers, rhe demon
gf,interpre tation-_obliq ue, she dos ,oot tread..,Opposirion, I
decked. our in modernity-=sells
them rhe same old mastery which can,end
handcuff.s, baules, and.chains.
Which castra[ion do you prefer?
Whose degrad'
' nonmasters *
orily in at leasr,or
ing do you like be tte, the two, dead)-all rhat comr
father's or the mother's? Oh, whar:pwerry.eyes, you phallocentric
ptuerry litrle girl. Heqe, buy values. The facr thar chis tr
my glasss and you'll s,ee the Tiurh-Me-Myself tell prevent woman
you everyrhing you should know. from starting the history
Put them
Iook (you are ffie, the ocher analysr_that's on Your nose and take a ferishist's glves. She
doesn?t "know'.' what she's gi
wh at I'm telling you) at your bodY though, neither.
and the body.of the orher. You a counrerf,eit impression
see? No? Wait, you'fl have
to )ou, and you' ll know at lasr everyrhing explained more, with
no assurance;rhat she'll ger b
which sot of neurosis you're relared whar she puts
we're going.ro do you r portratt, to. Hold still, our. She gives that there m
so that you can begin looking. ts an "economy
Yes,. the naives ro the firsr like, it ght
ri aw af .
" that can no longer be
and second degree are still legion.
Women, arnvtng now dare to create If rhe Netv loves, all the old conaeprs of managemer
ou tside the theoretical, they're or less conscious
qhe cops of rhe signifier, called in bY compu.tation, she finds
fi ngerprinted, remonsrrared, and for you what
of order thar rhey are su pposed broughr into the line you wnt me to be at the n
ro know; assigned by force of
laqe in the chain har 's always formed
trickery o a pecise never seen
me before: at every instant. W
for the benefit of a Know we can
Wa are pieced back to the string Privileged signifier' be that is written out of rr
which leads back, if not to the tion, and everyrhing we will
Father, then, for a new twlst, Name-of-rhe' be calls us
to rhe place of rhe phallic_ mother.
Beware, my friend, of rhe signifier easable search for love. In one another v
rhat would rake you back ro
of a signfied! Beware the authoritY
of d ragnosis rhat would recluce your
ge nerative powers'
. Tians