Write She Says—Nathalie Granger

Why have women’s voices historically been so absent in a rich tradition of rhetoric that spans over two thousand years? Is it simply a matter of women being denied access to the education that would allow them into the discursive community? Or could there actually be a distinctly female way of thinking, speaking and interacting that has made it difficult for women to communicate in these forums? In her 1975 essay Le Rire de la Méduse (en.: The Laugh of the Medusa), Hélène Cixous offered a solution by calling on women to write themselves. Cixous expands the concept of feminine writing by claiming its proximity to voice.

Could the concepts of “white ink” and “écriture féminine” be applicable to film? Feminist film and video came out of the women’s movement of the 1970s and has assumed a somewhat uncomfortable position between art, activism and the entertainment industry. It encompasses everything from abstract, avant-garde film and documentaries to autobiographical work and community-activist videos. Could we trace and speak of feminine film writing within these forms? What would this look like and could it be established or—just as Cixous says—does actually defining the term destroy its beauty…?
Isidora Ilić