Post Number Eight

Irigaray believes that femininity is self-contradictory and inherently plural, whereas masculine culture is obsessed with unity and oneness. She uses the shape and nature of male and female genitals as metaphors for her characterizations of masculinity and femininity. The penis is singular, symmetrical, and stands out apart from the body. But the vulva, because of its multiple layers and folds, is always in contact with itself, and represents an undefinable, plural version of femininity--which men, including Freud, often see as lacking or disorganized, and thus threatening.

Butler calls femininity a performance. She points out that any scientific observations we make about nature and sex must first go through our cultural lens which automatically separates everything into male and female. She argues that this lens may be the very reason that we take special note of the genitals in all animals. So to ascribe any particular meaning to the shape of a person's genitals, and attach them to the person's behavior, doesn't make sense. Instead, she argues, a better way to think about femininity, and masculinity, are to see them as performances. She points out that people who dress up in drag prove that the part of "feminine" or "masculine" can be played by anyone who chooses, and that the social pressures and threats of stigma act as a far greater reinforcer for acting the way we are expected than genetics or science could explain.

Butler's argument is clearly anti-essentialist--she basically wants the gender categories to vanish, and become as acceptable as the numerous other performances we have in our culture ("class clown," "uptight," "used car salesman").

Irigaray, on the other hand, believes that femininity exists, but that it is unfairly characterized by the dominant masculine, penis-loving, vagina-hating culture. It seems like she advocates for a better understanding and acceptance of femininity--and the idea that there even is such a thing, especially if it's defined by the genitals that half of all people carry, is certainly essentialist.