Irigaray’s thoughts in this essay are centered around the problem of how women intend to continue advancing their social status now that their inequality has been acknowledged and accepted as a societal problem on a large scale. She’s asking here, “Ladies, what are we going to about this?” Women have realized themselves as intelligent worthy people, not deserving of status below their male counterparts, but how do they now go about actively being a part of an entirely masculine system designed without the influence of women? Under the patriarchal understanding of gender divisions, a woman challenging the subordination which is expected of her is an action which is regarded as “masculine.” How then can a women embrace her feminine self while representing herself as a strong equal of her male counterparts? Irigaray suggests that system as it stands does not allow for such expression. Women do not have a way to express these desires in a system produced purely in the absence of female influence.
She contends that the “phallocratic economy” borne out of centuries of reigning patriarchal culture instructs members of society to fall in line in a system structured around a male conception of pleasure. Female desires for pleasure in this system are silenced, as they stand to threaten male pleasure. Patriarchal culture has constructed a society void of the language adequate to articulate feminine desire, as females becoming articulate self-realized individuals represents within society a threat to the male pleasure of viewing women in a more objectified manner. We can see this concept in action in Vertigo, where Scotty pushes his desires to be with Madeleine upon Judy who hopes to be accepted as herself. He is forceful in his wishes, to the point of audaciously dressing her in clothes Madeleine would wear and pressuring her to dye her hair. Judy’s objections are not heard and she is unable to express her own desires against Scotty’s forceful character, and she passively accepts such terms as she wishes to be with Scotty. Judy’s female desire here has been restrained as it opposes Scotty’s masculine pleasure of viewing her and enjoying her in a certain light.
Prioritizing male pleasure is a feature of patriarchal culture that can be seen manifested in the common practice of older men marrying much younger trophy wives, whereas this a significantly less common scenario when the gender roles are reversed. Likewise, the extensive availability of biomedical men’s health products engineered for men’s pleasure, such as Viagra or Vacuum Pump devices to remedy erectile dysfunction which are regularly covered by insurance, openly prioritizes men’s health and pleasure. In contrast, female birth control being covered by insurance plans remains a contentious political topic, and the availability of health products designed to assist with female sexual pleasure in the event of a health issue are incredibly lacking in comparison to the array of comparable options available for men. These things are not coincidental, and are linked to the repression of female desire Irigaray is describing.
Meaning and Pleasure2014 