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M.Krzykawski,Z.Szatanik:GenderStudiesł
23
theFrenchAcademy”).TheauthorsofthetextclearlyignoredtheAcademy’s
warningsagainst“authoritarianandsystematicfeminizationwhichmightlead
toavarietyoflinguisticincongruities.”
1
Wedorealize,obviously,thatthecomplexitiesinscribedwithingender
studiesdonotboildowntoalinguisticproblem(althoughitislanguagethat
thedisciplineconstruesasanimportantinstrumentofdomination,or,toquote
Foucault,asadispositiveofpower).Atthesametime,thislinguisticdispute
doespointtoasetofissues(institutional,cultural,political,andhistorical)that
onetryingtopursuegenderstudiesinFrenchisboundtoface.Forinstance,the
genderstudiesthatweredevelopedintheUnitedStatesundertheThirdWave
FeminismwereinspiredbytheFrenchTheory,andtheirprimarygoalwasto
subvertessentialisminherentintheFrenchFeminism.Regardlessofthenational
designation,however,theterms“FrenchTheory”and“FrenchFeminism”have
neverhadtheirequivalentsinFrench.
TheFrenchTheory,asJudithBUTLERclaimsinherintroductiontothesec-
ondeditionofGenderTrouble(1999),isastrangeAmericanconstruct(29).Prior
toitsemergence,anumberoftextsinFrenchwere“imported”totheUSAand
readasacoherentwhole,ratherthanahaphazardcombinationof1sometimes
strikinglydifferent1perspectives.Moreover,thepeakofpopularityofFrench
theoristsintheStatesoccurredwheninFrancetheywereassociatedwith“la
penséedessixties”(“thethinkingofthe1960s”)andhenceconsideredoutof
date.ItwasinAnglophoneWesternculturesthattheFrenchTheorygaveriseto
genderstudies,women’sstudies,postcolonialstudiesandculturalstudies.Texts
byFoucaultorDerridaprovidedatheoreticalbackgroundforanewdiscourse
whichwaspoliticallyandsociallyorientedandinscribedwithinReagan’scon-
ceptof“America’sback.”Concurrently,theseveryauthorswerelargelyignored
inFrancewhichcelebratedtheneo-humanistictendenciescharacteristicforthe
republicandiscourse.InhisDémondelathéorieAntoineCompagnonrightly
assertedthattheoryinFrancehadbecomeinstitutionalized;whatneedstobe
stressed,however,isthatthisinstitutionalizationaccompaniedtheturningaway
fromthe“ruinouseffectsofanti-humanism”
2(fERRYandRENAUT36)whichoc-
curredinFranceofthe1980s.
Asmuchas“FrenchTheory”isaconvenientalbeitsimplifyingconstruct,
“FrenchFeminism”is,toquoteChristineDELPHY,“pureinvention”(19).Delphy
wasthefirsttoprotestagainsttheillusory“Frenchness”of“FrenchTheory”
apparentlyembodiedbyits“HolyTrinity”1Cixous,Kristeva,andIrigaray
(whereasthefirsttwooftheseauthors,infact,refusetoparticipateindebates
onfeminismorcallthemselves“feminists”).Thebroadandunifyinglabelof
1“[ł]laféminisationautoritaireetsystématique[qui]pourraitaboutiràdenombreuses
incohérenceslinguistiques.”
2“[ł]deseffetsruineuxdel’anti-humanisme.”
