Of the essential in criticism: Some intersections in writing, political protest and law

Abstract

This article has an essentially modest aim: to examine the rather immodest essentialism to be found in three cultural phenom- ena. The essentialism is a sexual one; an elevation and celebration of Woman. The cultural phenomena to be considered exist within dis- parate arenas: law, politicalprotest and literature. My interest consists in discovering how a sexual essentialism underscored and structured the creation of, first, women's law as an academic disci- pline in the Scandinavian countries; secondly, the political protest carried out by women at the Greenham Common peace camp in Brit- ain; and finally, the practice of writing known as '[criture fbninine' (women's writing) in France. The u..