Summary: Cixous, “The Laugh of the Medusa”
Editor’s Note: For this assignment, I needed to read and summarize the published piece or content listed below, and then provide a response or assessment of the writing.
Cixous, Hélène, et al. “The Laugh of the Medusa.” Signs, vol. 1, no. 4, 1976, pp. 875–893. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3173239.
Summary
Cixous urges women to write for themselves and to encourage other women to write. She understands that women have had to struggle throughout history against man and society to move beyond the expectations of those two, but Cixous wants women to look forward, not behind them, and begin to conquer new through writing. Cixous blames men for women not feeling confident or worthy of writing and states that men created a culture that have led women to hate other women, “to be their own enemies.” She urges women to support other women and “write about women and bring women to writing.” Cixous argues against an essentialist thought that all women are the same; instead, she states that women share commonalities, but there is no typical woman. One of these commonalities is that all women will “return to the body which has been more than confiscated from her” when they write. Cixous parallels women gaining creative and intellectual freedom when they begin writing with control and freedom of their physical bodies, which have been objectified by men and society for so many years. Cixous believes that once women begin writing, they will overcome the suppression and fear that has been instilled in them throughout the years to speak and say what they would otherwise be too afraid to say. Cixous strongly believes that women are capable of writing and once they begin, a new history will be formed—a history that “extend[s] beyond men’s imagination” because it will dismantle the patriarchy they have established and long lived. Cixous also believes that women will redefine femininity in their writing. She believes men have been unable to write accurately about femininity because they fear women and do not understand women. This redefining—or defining for the first time—of femininity will also aid women in reclaiming their physical bodies.
Response
The overall message of Cixous’ essay was a positive statement that I think was important for women to read at that time. I love that she was trying with so much exuberance to encourage women to find their voices and make those voices known through writing. I don’t know if women at the time would have immediately understood that writing can bring about a confidence and sense of self worth that will inevitably reflect back on the entirety of their being—both mental, emotional, and physical—and I liked that Cixous made a point to spell that out for women. There were points in the essay and certain word choices that, in my opinion, seemed to ooze into the man-hating feminism that immediately comes to mind for so many people when they think of feminism, but I, in part, attributed that to the culture of the time when Cixous wrote this essay. For a woman feeling frustratingly suppressed by a patriarchal system, I can understand why frustration and resentment would enter into her writing. It could also have been rhetoric designed to initiate a response from her readers—whether it be men or women—and further urge them into action. Overall, the message was a positive one and entertaining to read, which I believe likely made its message more effective, both to prompt women to start writing and to bring about more discussion and thought around the idea of women writing and how that writing will change the literary world.