Michelle Thomassian

Chapter 6: 195-211

In chapter 6, Tong explores postmodern feminism and many influential figures associated with it. First, she relays what postmodern feminism entails: Postmodern feminists are very skeptical of traditional feminist thought, and some even reject it. For instance, the terms 'lesbian' and 'feminist' are a "deviation" from the norm, instead of a free sexual option or a place of solidarity for women. Most postmodern feminists are good at theory and focus on the "otherness" of females in a patriarchal society and express its advantages.

Tong explains how Deconstructionists believe that self-identity, truth or language are imposed structures, and that the self is fundamentally split between its conscious and unconscious dimensions. Tong explores Jacques Lacan's "Symbolic Order" and its three stages. Lacan wrote that in the Oedipal phase, boys separate from their mothers differently than girls. Boys are born to 'language', while girls are excluded from the symbolic order because they "cannot wholly identify with their fathers in psychosexual drama." (Tong, p. 197) Jacques Derrida, however, criticized the symbolic order and argued that language creates meaning, not provides it.

Helene Cixous compares feminine writing masculine writing, claiming women's writing is much more interesting. She said male sexuality is centered on phallogocentric writing, penis/phallus/pen, which is ultimately boring. Cixous said female sexuality is everything but boring because it focuses on adventure instead of destiny. Luce Irigaray agreed with Cixous that feminine sexuality is a source of feminine writing, but, "her aim is to liberate the feminine from masculine philosophical thought." (Tong, pg. 201)

Tong explores other critical thinkers of postmodern feminism, then provides the reader with a critique. Tong says many critics reject postmodern feminism because it is "feminism for academicians" and caters to only highly educated people. While others fault them for the "sameness-difference debate, which is the question of whether women are fundamentally the same or different from men.

Finally, Tong points out that despite many of its criticisms, postmodern feminism is a very exciting development is modern feminist thought.