Medusa Recapit(ul)ated: Freud, Female Genitalia and the “Cunt-roversy” at CU

Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society - Tập 19 - Trang 113-126 - 2014
Paul Gordon1
1University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado, USA

Tóm tắt

This paper revisits Freud's famous posthumous essay on "Medusa's Head" in light of a recent "cunt-roversy" at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where a scandal erupted involving the remark made in deposition by the female President of the University (during an allegation against the university) that defended the "c-word" as neither "vile" nor "disgusting." In exploring the reasons behind this "most offensive" word the essay returns to Freud's essay in arguing that the dreaded, decapitated "c-word" replays the drama of the dreaded, decapitated Medusa as a symbol of female sexuality.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Barthes, R. (1974) S/Z. New York: Hill and Wang. Benveniste, E. (1971) Remarks on the problem of language in Freudian theory. In: Problems in General Linguistics. Miami: University of Miami Press, pp. 65–75. CBSSports.com (2004) Colorado president under fire for comments. 15 June, http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/7424159, accessed 7 July 2013. Cixous, H. (1976) The laughter of the Medusa. Signs 1 (4): 875–893. Creed, B. (1993) The Monstrous Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. London: Routledge. Doane, M. (1989) Veiling over desire: Close-ups of the woman. In: R. Feldstein and J. Roof (eds.) Feminism and Psychoanalysis. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, pp. 105–141. Ensler, E. (2001) The Vagina Monologues. London: Virago. Freud, S. (1900, 1953) The Interpretation of Dreams, Part I. Standard Edition, 4. London: Hogarth Press. Freud, S. (1910, 1957) A special type of choice of object made by men (Contributions to the psychology of love I). Standard Edition, 9. London: Hogarth Press, pp.163–176. Freud, S. (1912, 1957) On the universal tendency to debasement in the sphere of love (Contributions to the psychology of love II). Standard Edition, 11. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 177–190. Freud, S. (1913, 1958) The theme of the three caskets. Standard Edition, 12. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 289–302. Freud, S. (1916a, 1963) Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, Part III. Standard Edition, 16, London: Hogarth Press. Freud, S. (1916b, 1957) A mythological parallel to a visual obsession. Standard Edition, 14. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 337–338. Freud, S. (1918, 1957) The taboo of virginity (Contributions to the psychology of love III). Standard Edition, 11. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 191–208. Freud, S. (1919, 1955) The “uncanny”. Standard Edition, 27. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 217–256. Freud, S. (1922a, 1955) Medusa’s head. Standard Edition, 18. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 273–274. Freud, S. (1922b, 1999) Das Medusenhaupt. Gesammelte Werke, 17. Frankfurt: Fischer, pp. 47–48. Gallop, J (1989) The monster in the mirror: The feminist critic’s psychoanalysis. In: R. Feldstein and J. Roof (eds.) Feminism and Psychoanalysis. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, pp. 12–24. Garber, M. and Vickers, N.K. (eds.) (2003) The Medusa Reader. New York: Routledge. Gordon, P. (1989) Misogyny, Dionysianism and a new model of Greek tragedy. Women's Studies 17 (3): 211–218. Greer, G. (1971, 1986) Lady love your cunt. In: The Made Woman’s Underclothes: Essays and Occasional Writings. London: Picador, pp. 74–77. Hertz, N. (1985) The End of the Line. New York: Columbia University Press. Johnson, K. (2005) University president resigns at Colorado amid turmoil. New York Times, 8 March, online, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/08/national/08colorado.html, accessed 7 July 2013. Kofman, S. (1980) L’énigme de la femme. Paris: Gallilée. Kristeva, J. (2012) The Severed Head: Capital Visions. New York: Columbia. Lawrence, D.H. (1928, 2009) Lady Chatterley’s Lover – Restored Modern Edition. El Paso, TX: El Paso Norte Press. Mulvey, L. (1975, 1989) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In: Visual and Other Pleasures. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Muscio, I. (2002) Cunt: A Declaration of Independence. 2nd edn. New York: Seal Press. Neumann, E. (2003) Erich Neumann: From The Origins and History of Consciousness. In: M. Garber and N.K. Vickers (eds.) The Medusa Reader. New York: Routledge, pp. 96–99. Sprengnether, M. (1990) The Spectral Mother: Freud, Feminism and Psychoanalysis. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Vernant, J.-P. (1972, 1990) Oedipus without the Complex. In: J.-P. Vernant and P. Vidal-Naquet (eds.) Tragedy and Myth in Ancient Greece. New York: Zone Books, pp. 85–112. Wolf, N. (2012) Vagina: A New Biography. London: Virago.