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I’m going to have to agree with Emily…I found myself thinking that the things Delphy was discussing were in some part fundamental. Also, I am too curious as to who Delphy thinks she’s addressing when she talks of feminists who want to keep some elements of gender. That is certainly not the view of feminism and gender that I have been taught. What I have read about gender has been focused on its deconstruction, on investigating how it is produced – not rallying around some notion of femininity…Does Delphy think she’s the only one with these ideas on gender?
One thing on Richards. I thought her discussion of feminine writing was particularly interesting, especially when she noted that some female writers adamantly deny having a feminine style of writing and refer to themselves as simply ‘writers’. This made me think of an article I read for a pervious Women’s Studies course. The article talks about the relationship between the binaries of sex/gender and nature/science. The author (I believe it was Evelyn Fox Keller) comments that within science, there is a tendency for women scientists to assert the fact that they are scientists, and minimize the fact that they are women. They reason that to support the idea that gender might somehow effect how one does science undermines the conception of science as absolute. If female scientists believe that they are somehow conducting their scientific studies differently from men, they are essentially forced to question the very foundation science purports to build from – that science is completely objective. Keller explains that this does not sit well with the female scientists male counterparts, and decreases their legitimacy within the scientific field. I found it curious that this conflict manifests itself in writing as well.
As far as the speaker on Thursday goes, I had a hard time figuring out what he was talking about, in part because I’m not completely familiar with the material. However, I think he mentioned something about groups opposing a regime marginalizing other groups…something like the homogeneous mode of representation. I couldn’t explain it for the life of me, but I figure that because it’s talking about marginalization, it might pertain to class. Who knows. Anyone have a clearer picture of this concept?