I'm fed up with this

[gillo]

My Feminist Literary Theory course is driving me bonkers. Not just because of the psychobabble (I'm looking at you Irigaray, Butler, Kristeva, Freud) but because virtually all the material we have to read is so dated.

Feminist Postcolonial Theory isn't a bad book per se, but most of the articles in it are now twenty years old. One of them is about

Comments

[sister_luck]

Just had a quick look around wikipedia and even 20 years ago the claim that France was the only country where FGM was illegal seems to be plain wrong.
The case in Germany is complicated because there is no actual law about FGM, but it is classified (as in all states of the EU) as a criminal offense.
But I don't have any current articles in the po-co context, although the German wikipedia article mentions a lot of references including several English-language books and articles.

The case you link to was a decision by a lower court and caused a lot of trouble because Germany certainly is in no position to legislate on a Jewish tradition and we're currently in the process of getting a law that will make male circumcision legal when certain conditions are met.

[gillo]

I know the decision caused a lot of trouble, though I tend to believe no piercings or removal of body parts should be done without actual informed consent of the individual it is done to. Even for religious reasons.

Thanks for looking.

[heleninwales]

They were talking about FGM on Woman's Hour only this morning. (And it is illegal in the UK as well as France, though there have, as yet, been no prosecutions here.)

There was an interesting interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali who is an: "outspoken on the position of women in Islam, author and founder of the AHA Foundation, appearing at the Trust Women Conference." She has written a number of books and essays. Perhaps that will give you a place to start searching for other more recent publications?

[gillo]

I don't remember when it was made illegal here - I should look it up. Of course today would be a day when I missed WH! Thanks.

[stormwreath]

1985, the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act.

I actually thought it was more recent than that, but checking shows that under the 1985 Act FGM was illegal in the UK, but there was a loophole where it wasn't illegal to take a girl into another country to have it done there. That was also made illegal by the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.

[gillo]

Thank you for that. So the article was factually wrong too.

[steepholm]

Why let mere facts get in the way of "substance"? Your tutor should at least update the factual aspects.

I can't point you to any good articles, although I'm morally certain that FGM is illegal in this country and has been for some time. But by the way, does your course have anything to say on the genital mutilation of intersex babies? This ought to be of interest to any Butlerian, for starters.

[gillo]

This is the reading list for tomorrow. Anything not on it might just as well not exist. She slapped me down last week for mentioning FGM, as it was due for tomorrow. Like pushed her open hand withing six inches of my face!

10. Reading the Body
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
Sandra Bartky, “Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power”, in Femininity and Domination: Studies in the Phenomenology of Oppression (Taylor and Francis: 1990)
Fadwa el Guindi, ‘Veiling Resistance” [1999], rpt in Feminist Postcolonial Theory, 586-612
Lucy Irigaray, ‘The Blind Spot on an Old Dream of Symmetry’, in Speculum of the Other Woman
Francoise Lionnet, “Feminisms and Universalisms: ‘Universal Rights’ and the Legal Debate Around the Practice of Female Excision in France” [1992] rpt in Feminist Postcolonial Theory, 368-380

As for intersex, transgender, even bisexuality (except in a Freudian sense) - forget it.

[steepholm]

I see what you mean...

[gillo]

I thought you might. Transpeople "still subscribe to a binary gender", according to Dr F...

I'm not whining ridiculously here, am I? It just feels so disappointing a way to look at feminism and feminist criticism.

[slaymesoftly]

Might want to wait till you get your grade before you call her on stuff - but, I do think you should do so, giving her a list of all the more current sources she's missing. Really. People are paying money for this class, right? She should be putting more effort into it.

[gillo]

She's Director of Graduate Studies, no less. But I think she's intellectually lazy.

Yes, we all pay around six grand for this course, of which this module counts as about 15%. (It varies slightly, depending on whether it is taken as the compulsory theory course or as an extra option, which counts for more.)

[deborahw37]

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/violence-against-women-girls/female-genital-mutilation/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3528095.stm

Illegal since 2004... not a single prosecution

[gillo]

Thank you. I shall print these out to take with me.