Overview

Antoinette Fouque cofounded the Mouvement de Lib?ration 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. Rather than reject Freud's discoveries on the pretext of their phallocentrism, Fouque sought to enrich his thought by more clearly defining the difference between the sexes and affirming the existence of a female libido. By recognizing women's contribution to humanity, Fouque hoped uterus envy, which she saw as the mainspring of misogyny, could finally give way to gratitude and by associating procreation with women's liberation she advanced the goal of a parity-based society in which men and women could write a new human contract. The essays, lectures, and dialogues in this volume finally 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 Saadaoui; and serving as deputy in the European Parliament. Her theoretical explorations discuss the ongoing development of feminology, a field she initiated, and, while she celebrates the progress women have made over the past four decades, she also warns against the trends of counterliberation: the feminization of poverty, the persistence of sexual violence, and the rise of religious fundamentalism.

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9781322955001

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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.--Fran?ois Gu?ry, faculty of philosophy, University Jean Moulin Lyon

Author Information

Antoinette Fouque (1936-2014) was a psychoanalyst and director of research at the Universit? de Paris VIII. She authored a number of books, including Gravidanza, Qui ?tes-vous, Antoinette Fouque? and G?n?sique. 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.

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