The Autonomous Sex

Through the analysis of "Pasos bajo el agua" (Steps under Water) and "Bosquejo de alturas" (Impressions of Heights), both from the Argentine writer Alicia Kozameh, Ana Luiza Libanio Dantas depicts an embodied ecriture feminine. The Autonomous Sex: Female Body and Voice in Alicia Kozameh's Writing of Resistance will guide you through the reading of the literary texts while analyzing theories from French feminists Helen Cixous and Luce Irigaray, as well as Mikhail Bakhtin's, and Michel Foucault's theories. The historical facts drawn by the author build a background to the understanding of women empowerment through language within power relationships established in patriarchal societies. The literary excerpts exemplify the empowered women's language (ecriture feminine), which is written through the female body as part of heteroglossia, rather than being exclusive to women. Ecriture feminine is a legitimate voice in social discourses deconstructing the male/female dichotomy, and establishing a horizontal and dialectic relationship between different discursive voices. The Autonomous Sex... proposes reconstruction of gender relationships through heteroglossia.