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GATE 2024 XH2 (English) – Question 62

Critical Theories and Intellectual Traditions · Theoretical Paradigms: Structuralism, Marxism, feminism, existentialism, poststructuralism, modernism, postmodernism, new historicism, postcolonialism, posthumanism · 2 marks · Multiple select

“Although feminist philosophers have traditionally sought to show how the body is figured as feminine, or how women have been associated with materiality (whether inert – always already dead – or fecund – ever-living and procreative) where men have been associated with the principle of rational mastery, Irigaray wants to argue that in fact the feminine is precisely what is excluded in and by such a binary opposition. In this sense, when and where women are represented within this economy is precisely the site of their erasure.”
Which of the following options is/are implied by this passage?

  1. Irigaray’s work does not replicate the stance of traditional feminist philosophy.
  2. Irigaray radically questions the mind/body distinction from a feminist perspective.
  3. For Irigaray, the place assigned to women, even by some feminist philosophers, may in fact serve to erase them.
  4. Irigaray is not crucially concerned about the feminine.

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Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: (A) Irigaray’s work does not replicate the stance of traditional feminist philosophy.; (B) Irigaray radically questions the mind/body distinction from a feminist perspective.; (C) For Irigaray, the place assigned to women, even by some feminist philosophers, may in fact serve to erase them.

Explanation

The passage contrasts Irigaray with the traditional feminist reading (A), says that she questions the binary of mind and body (B), and says that women's place within that binary is where they are erased (C). She is centrally concerned with the feminine.