There Are Two Sexes

Antoinette Fouque

Antoinette Fouque

There Are Two Sexes

Essays in Feminology

Translated by: Catherine Porter
Edited by: Sylvina Boissonnas

Columbia University Press | 2015

https://doi.org/10.7312/fouq16986

Overview
Contents

About this book

Antoinette Fouque cofounded the Mouvement de Libération des Femmes in France in 1968. Rather than reject Freud, Fouque sought to enrich his thought by more clearly defining the difference between the sexes and affirming the existence of a female libido. The essays, lectures, and dialogues in this volume finally allow English-speaking readers to access the breadth of Fouque's creativity and activism.
Antoinette Fouque cofounded the Mouvement de Libération des Femmes (MLF) in France in 1968 and spearheaded its celebrated Psychanalyse et Politique, a research group that informed the cultural and intellectual heart of French feminism. The essays, lectures, and dialogues in this volume allow English-speaking readers to access the breadth of Fouque's creativity and activism. Touching on issues in history and biography, politics and psychoanalysis, Fouque recounts her experiences running the first women's publishing house in Europe; supporting women under threat, such as Aung San Suu Kyi,Taslima Nasrin, and Nawal El Saadawi; and serving as deputy in the European Parliament. Her explorations discuss the ongoing development of feminology, a field she initiated. While she celebrates the progress women have made over the past four decades, she also warns against the feminization of poverty, the persistence of sexual violence, and the rise of religious fundamentalism.

Key selections from the work of a groundbreaking French feminist who thought beyond Freud and Lacan to realize true parity between men and women.

Author information

Antoinette Fouque (1936–2014) was a psychoanalyst and director of research at the Université de Paris VIII. She authored a number of books, including Gravidanza, Qui êtes-vous, Antoinette Fouque? and Génésique.

Sylvina Boissonnas is an activist in the Women's Liberation Movement and an architect. She has been involved in the Psychoanalysis and Politics research group since 1970.

Reviews

Catherine Rodgers:
A fitting testimony to the dedication and energy of a remarkable woman.

François Guéry, faculty of philosophy, University Jean Moulin Lyon:
There Are Two Sexes departs from the same principle as Simone de Beauvoir's classic The Second Sex, that the feminine is devalued within traditional human cultures. Yet Fouque does not conclude, as feminists do, that it is necessary to align the secondary sex with the primary one. Instead, she accords women their own genius, a genius she calls matricial, a creative faculty that first appears in procreation, the power of life. In the process, the struggle of women for recognition is altered and exalted.

Laurence Zordan, philosopher and writer:
The feminology Fouque advocates here goes beyond feminism, since it triggers drastic shifts in our all-too-familiar worldview. Modernity is her tempo. Movement is her motto. Gestation is her guiding thread for a new epistemology, one of a world in which misogyny is eliminated. Procreation is her paradigm for a new human contract. The quest for liberty is her calling. The will to stay ahead of the game is her way of changing the rules. Sparkling with wit, this story of an everlasting commitment deserves a place in the international hall of fame.

Anne-Emmanuelle Berger, Cornell University:
Antoinette Fouque played a decisive role in the formation and subsequent history of the women's liberation movement in France. An extraordinary character, a highly cultivated woman, and a relentless activist, she took controversial steps while opening new paths for the inscription and recognition of women in the world. Her formulations were idiosyncratic, forceful, debatable, and provocative. This book is a precious testimony to her thought and action. It will help the English-speaking world interested in feminism complete the intellectual and political puzzle formed by what was called 'French Feminism' some decades ago.

Owen Heathcote, author of From Bad Boys to New Men? Masculinity, Sexuality, and Violence in the Work of Éric Jourdan:
This is a strong and powerful collection that repays reading and rereading by anyone interested in the areas of sex, gender, and women.

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	vii
Foreword Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	ix
Preface to the First Edition Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	xv
Preface to the Second Edition Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	xvii
Acknowledgments Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	xxxiii
Note on the Translation Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	xxxv
1. Our Movement is Irreversible Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
2. Women in Movements–Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	10
3. There Are Two Sexes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	34
4. Does Psychoanalysis Have an Answer for Women? Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	55
5. The Plague of Misogyny Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	60
6. And If We Were to Speak of Women’s Powerlessness? Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	68
7. “It Is Not Power That Corrupts But Fear”: Aung San Suu Kyi Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	75
8. My Freud, My Father Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	80
9. From Liberation to Democratization Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	83
10. Our Editorial Policy is a Poethics Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	89
11. Dialogue with Isabelle Huppert Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	94
12. Recognitions Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	113
13. Wartime Rapes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	122
14. Religion, Women, Democracy Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	126
15. Our Bodies Belong to Us: Dialogue with Taslima Nasrin Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	133
16. Homage to Serge Leclaire Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	138
17. How to Democratize Psychoanalysis? Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	143
18. Democracy and Its Discontents Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	149
19. Tomorrow, Parity Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	152
20. Women and Europe Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	179
21. If This is a Woman Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	183
22. They’re Burning a Woman Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	192
23. What Is a Woman? Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	195
24. Gestation for Another, Paradigm of the Gift Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	215
25. Gravida Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	233
Notes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	261
Biographical Notes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	295
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	299

There Are Two Sexes

Essays in Feminology

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