Feminism, Sexuate Rights and the Ethics of Sexual Difference: An Interview with Luce Irigaray

Luce Irigaray is a leading French philosopher and feminist theorist, and director of the Philosophy Department, National Scientific Research Center of France. She criticizes the patriarchal culture constructed by male subject, exposing how this culture secures a sexual ethics based on male privileges. She advocates the establishment of an autonomous female subject, independent of male subject, thus achieving sexual equality based on the respect of sexual differences. She moves on to call for the respect of other cultural differences and the construction of harmonious community. Her representative works include: Speculum: Of the Other Woman (1974), This Sex Which Is Not One (1977), An Ethics of Sexual Difference (1984), Thinking the Difference: For a Peaceful Revolution (1989), I, You, We: Toward a Culture of Difference (1990), I Love to You: Sketch for the Possible Felicity in History (1992), To Be Two ( 1997), Between East and West: From Singularity to Community (1999) and Sharing the World (2008). This interview was conducted in the written form from October 2009 to January 2010. In the first part, Irigaray discusses the development of feminism worldwide and the significance of mother-daughter relationship and l' ecriture feminine ( feminine writing) in relation to sexuate rights. In the second part, Irigaray discusses man-nature relations and the relationship of her theories to the Oriental culture. The interview, above all, centers on a sexual ethics based on the respect of sexual difference across cultures and across regions.