To Be Born a Girl? Irigaray, Sexuate Identity and the Girl

Abstract

In her book To Be Born, Luce Irigaray demonstrates how becoming a human being is not a simple undertaking. The volume determines the causes of the insufficiency of our current understanding of what it means to be by exploring different stages of the human development from birth. The book questions what we can do to reach an existence in which natural belonging, including sexuate difference and relational identity, is considered and cultivated for every individual. Through her writing, Irigaray incites us to think about life and provides us with examples, concepts and practices through which we might be able to conceive of life differently.