Playing Heads or Tails with My Diaphragm: Drinking Lattes with Hélène Cixous

Authors

Rebecca McCarthy

Abstract

While sitting through endless political speeches and pundit commentary this election cycle, one would be hard pressed to miss the continuous expressions of careless racism and sexism that is an under-theme to this presidential election. Moreover, with the Republican nomination of Sarah Palin for McCain's VP, I find myself in awe over the assumption that the simple election of a woman to an office of power equates the breaking of the glass ceiling. As such, I felt compelled to revisit Hélène Cixoius' suggestion that we need a new feminine language to combat both institutionalized and careless sexism. But what would this language look like today? "Playing Heads or Tails with My Diaphragm" comically and poetically explores this question. From mythological goddesses to Rousseau, the Mona Lisa, and John McCain's fascination with my diaphragm, my conversation with Cixous leads me to form my own rhetoric, while reclaiming my diaphragm from a "Viagracentric" obsessed language and culture.

About the Author(s)

Rebecca McCarthy graduated from Florida Atlantic University's Ph.D. program in Comparative Studies (2007) with a concentration in rhetoric, sociology, and philosophy. Much of her current work strives to combine rhetorical theory with theatre and comedy in order to promote active spaces of resistance for social justice movements. Rebecca is currently teaching philosophy at Kaplan University, and can be reached at RebaMcCarthy@gmail.com.

DOI

10.15760/harlot.2008.1.8

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/39366

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Recommended Citation

McCarthy, Rebecca (2008) "Playing Heads or Tails with My Diaphragm: Drinking Lattes with Hélène Cixous," Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion: No. 1, 8.
https://doi.org/10.15760/harlot.2008.1.8