The term phallogocentric comes from two terms combined- Phallocentric and
- Logocentric
These two schools of western philosophy are the base of Phallogocentricism. This brings us to an important question, what is phallocentricism and what is Logocentricism? What is its relevance?
Why is it important to write a blog about? Honestly, it was sparked because of a conversation with one of my student who was curious about Helene Cixous's l'ecriture feminism and whether this theory can be used to explain Anne's portrayal in Jane Austen's Persuasion.
This is just to satisfy my own understanding of the word Phallogocentricism and also for the greater good of some of my students or just some enthusiasts who might be interested to understand the concept.
So, What is Phallocentricism? Let's break it down to Phallo/centri/cism. In simple words, the word Phallo comes from Phallus.
According to the Cambridge dictionary, the word Phallus is "an image or a model of the penis, especially one representing the power of men to make women pregnant, or a penis."
So from here, we can deduce that Phallocentricism means centered around the penis/ phallus. In simple words, the one who owns the phallus, ie man. This places man in the center and woman outside it.
Phallocentricism essentially means that Phallus/Penis/ owner of the phallus(ie man) is the center of human experience.
According to Freud, women were envious of the phallus. The term, however, was coined by a contemporary of Freud. Alfred Ernest Jones, a psychoanalyst and a close friend of Sigmund Freud coined the term Phallocentricism as he believed to be a term to counter Freud's penis based paranoia.
He believed that women didn't want to take the penis. The term Phallocentricism refers to society's obsession with a man being the center of the universe in patriarchy.
The experience of a male being the default experience of society as a universal experience is challenged and later on, picked up by many feminists including Helene Cixous.
Next up in the Blog I will be posting on Logocentricism!
- Logocentric
These two schools of western philosophy are the base of Phallogocentricism. This brings us to an important question, what is phallocentricism and what is Logocentricism? What is its relevance?
Why is it important to write a blog about? Honestly, it was sparked because of a conversation with one of my student who was curious about Helene Cixous's l'ecriture feminism and whether this theory can be used to explain Anne's portrayal in Jane Austen's Persuasion.
This is just to satisfy my own understanding of the word Phallogocentricism and also for the greater good of some of my students or just some enthusiasts who might be interested to understand the concept.
So, What is Phallocentricism? Let's break it down to Phallo/centri/cism. In simple words, the word Phallo comes from Phallus.
According to the Cambridge dictionary, the word Phallus is "an image or a model of the penis, especially one representing the power of men to make women pregnant, or a penis."
So from here, we can deduce that Phallocentricism means centered around the penis/ phallus. In simple words, the one who owns the phallus, ie man. This places man in the center and woman outside it.
Phallocentricism essentially means that Phallus/Penis/ owner of the phallus(ie man) is the center of human experience.
According to Freud, women were envious of the phallus. The term, however, was coined by a contemporary of Freud. Alfred Ernest Jones, a psychoanalyst and a close friend of Sigmund Freud coined the term Phallocentricism as he believed to be a term to counter Freud's penis based paranoia.
He believed that women didn't want to take the penis. The term Phallocentricism refers to society's obsession with a man being the center of the universe in patriarchy.
The experience of a male being the default experience of society as a universal experience is challenged and later on, picked up by many feminists including Helene Cixous.
Next up in the Blog I will be posting on Logocentricism!
