Playing Heads or Tails with My Diaphragm: Drinking Lattes with Hélène Cixous

Abstract

While sitting through endless political speeches and pundit commentary this election cycle, one would be hard pressed to miss the continuous expressions of careless racism and sexism that is an under-theme to this presidential election. Moreover, with the Republican nomination of Sarah Palin for McCain's VP, I find myself in awe over the assumption that the simple election of a woman to an office of power equates the breaking of the glass ceiling. As such, I felt compelled to revisit Helene Cixoius' suggestion that we need a new feminine language to combat both institutionalized and careless sexism. But what would this language look like today? Playing Heads or Tails with My Diaphragm comically and poetically explores this question. From mythological goddesses to Rousseau, the Mona Lisa, and John McCain's fascination with my diaphragm, my conversation with Cixous leads me to form my own rhetoric, while reclaiming my diaphragm from a Viagracentric obsessed language and culture.