Sex and Sin in the Works of Luce Irigaray (Modern Literary Theory)

Luce Irigaray is one of the leading feminists of the twentieth century. She has written extensively in such varying disciplines as philosophy, psychoanalysis, and linguistics. This is no surprise since she is one of the very few scholars who can claim two earned PhDs: one in philosophy and the other in linguistics. Further, she studied psychoanalysis under the famed psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and is a fully qualified to practice as one. Regardless of which intellectual hat she may wear, there is one over-riding concern she has had since the 1970s and that is her desire to create a society that valorizes women as much as men. This is not to say that she has not ruffled a few feathers along the way. Much of her literary output is frankly controversial not only with the targets of her ire, usually an entrenched patriarchy that she deems as stifling women who seek to speak in their own collective voices but also her fellow feminists who take a continuing umbrage with her stances on issues ranging from being a despised essentialist to limiting women to function only within the traditional context of heterosexual relations.