Author:

Brigitte Lewis (University of Melbourne)

Paper Short Abstract:

How does a gendered female Self "jam" the stylised repetitions of a rational self and what does it mean for gender as a construct? Can theory save us? Can it become the object of our salvation we smuggle in as a nod to our enlightenment past of a one true theoretical love?

Paper long abstract:

As a culture of western people we have learnt, since the scientific revolution, to master the "stylised repetition of acts through time" (Butler 1988, p. 519) that constitute not only what it is to do gender but also what it is to be a rationalist self. How does a gendered female Self "jam" (Irigaray 1991, p. 126) the stylised repetitions of a rational self and what does it mean for gender as a construct? Can theory save us? Can it become the object of our salvation we smuggle in as a nod to our enlightenment past of a one true theoretical love? I ground my Self in theory to bring you back the answers.

Butler, Judith. 1988. 'Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.'Theatre Journal 40, no. 4, pp. 519-31

Irigaray, Luce. 'The Power of Discourse and the Suboordination of the Feminine.' In The Irigaray Reader, edited by Margaret Whitford. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 118 -132.