Feminism, Critique, and Political Subjectivity

The paper analyzes feminist political subjectivity, as it arises from two contemporary debates in feminist theory that focus on the role and nature of critique as part of feminist politics and theory. The first debate concerns the nature of critique and its relation to negation. The second debate revolves around the question of whether there are, or should be, some values that are the definitive goals of feminism. I argue that these debates reflect and sustain a fragmented political subjectivity that can hardly be the basis for effective individual and collective political lives. The second half of the paper suggests that a Foucauldien notion of critique might be helpful in rethinking feminist critique and its role in feminist cultural politics.