Journal of Language and Linguistics Volume 2 Number 1 2003 ISSN 1475 - 8989

Discussions on the identity of the feminine manifestation have permeated studies ever since illo tempore, time that is not measured, where "everything is always considered within the framework of simultaneousness and antagonism" (Durand, 2001:412). Likewise, cultural curiosity has also always occupied itself with the study of the feminine manifestation, which has been researched from Helen of Troy to the media's many 'hillarys'2; whether 'menelaus' ‘helens' or 'clintons' 'hillarys' feminine figures always provide a cover for cultural movements. Such women, one functional way or another, are part of the masculine-feminine couple, an anthropological unity manifesting itself in discourse by means of different kinds of sociocultural expressivity. It is from this millenary route that I will detach an illo tempore of women in power and analyze how such women are expressed in media discourse at the of the end of the 20th century. Due to its relevance, I propose a study of the identity of the feminine manifestation.

An analytical dialectics is supported by a triangle of social, cultural and ideological concepts which articulate themselves into a complex net of meanings represented, that is to say, presented in and covered by discourse. It is worth pointing out that language is not only a means of representing the world but a means of presenting it because our outlook on the world is in relation to that of discourse. The statement "the identity of an individual is built in and through language" (Rajagopalan, 2001: 41) helps out the proposition that discourse presents the world. However, the issue here is not the individual subject but the social subject as anchor for feminine identity configuration because "the physical event of birth is important since it determines the beginning of a possible socialization; it is natural for human beings to be social;" "society is their nature" (Mey, 1981: 75).

Owing to the postulate that the subject's discourse movement is created by the "naturalizing society" direction (Rajagoaplan, 2001: 34), I raise the issue that the individual's identity, insofar as personality is concerned, does not concern this paper, for dealing with that aspect would involve the risk of operating in the pschycological level. This paper is rather in the area of discourse which sets ups an intertwining relationship with the social level. In this sense, the code of laws governing the corpus chosen is built when it is established that the media is the place of social representations, where ideological creations are organized into discourse creations, which are invested with ideological creations.

One could wonder how media discourse fragments in magazines issued nationwide, Veja and Isto É, and advertising fragments are able to cope with the complexity of profiling the identity of the feminine being. The matter may be suitably handled if it is understood that discourse (in this case, media discourse) provides an anchor for the presence of the subject, which is articulated automatically. Discourse should not be considered as a bearer of atomism, for, even if the subject is considered the condenser of all forces inherent to the atom, this does not attest to the singularity of the feminine being. Nor is holism satisfactory since the whole of the feminine manifestation essence is not made present in language. The discourse subject should be viewed through its "anatomic" property (Rajagopalan, 1994), which renders feasible epiphanic identity jets. In this case, it is understood that the constitution of the discourse subject unveils particles of an anatomy much bigger than the being itself. This issue renders itself relevant in the final argumentation hat there is no perception of the essence of identity but of identity-promoting attributes. As the subject is inserted in a relational flow, it is an accomplishment project whose range can show it as an enunciator of discourse or not. In this sense, the feminine being would be a continuous process of intertwined making.

In order to take apart the anatomic network of the feminine figure's path in media discourse more efficiently, it is mandatory to circumscribe the factorial concepts of the triad composed of the social, cultural and ideological components. The social component is organized by means of collective society, by playing and interacting roles / functions, shared within a specific contextualizing time and space. The cultural component is explained by the semantic universe deriving from different kinds of social practice. And the ideological component deals with value investments in the semantic universe of culture, which articulate themselves into significant systems. From a macro-sign perspective of the world, the social level can be seen as the concrete level of social roles, the signifier, which relates to a semantic universe of the cultural component, the signified, whose relationship is invested with ideological values, a deeper level underlying and determining the production of meaning. The triadic play is thus set up: the signifier, exterior concrete element, triggers a stimulus leading to a concept, interior abstract element, whose relationship is expressed in the meaning of values. A 'cabalistic' triangle profiling and organizing feminine identity operates in discourse production and manifestation. The transition between world and discourse reality is not achieved through splitting / rupture but through stronger or lighter twisting / intertwining.

The woman figure here analyzed will be constituted in the realm of power. The category power will adjust itself to two types of social expressivity: the political power of a feminine subject that can bring about changes in the political world and the power of seduction, a kind of power distinguished by the transgression of pleasure. Media discourse typifies a woman playing a political role, for example, Hillary Clinton, the former first-lady of the USA and current senator for New York, Roseana Sarney, ex-governor of the State of Maranhão and possible ex-candidate in the presidential elections in Brazil. And advertising discourse shows the behavioral power of feminine seduction- women wearing DuLoren lingerie are allowed that which is forbidden.

Justified by the anatomical network itself of the sociological, cultural and ideological components, a cultural binary axiology is built based on two categories: femininity and 'femininitude'3 (Moi, 1985). This bifurcation is supported by the issue that units are made up of antagonism and similarities, issues manifested by history, different sorts of cultural and literary discourse, ever since 'menelaus' 'helens' (Brandão, 1992). Femininity accounts for the profile of traditional women who embody the prototypes of value attribution instituted in / by the patriarchal system: submission, beauty and emotion. 'Femininitude' comprises the values of modern women who manage their own time and space, who very often, when in power, give up their femininity since power presupposes transit in the masculine manifestation.

Up to this point, the categorial routes are bilateral: femininity versus 'femininitude' and behavioral versus functional power; it is important to have in mind that they wind through the macro-sign triad. Femininity with its seduction power is established in the cultural component, to the extent that <seduction> makes the gender of power semantic; 'femininitude,' the role of political power, characterized in the social role, is in the social level. The social and cultural levels are balanced in the constitution of the woman figure identity promotion in a meaningful network. The cultural level supplies meaning to the category <power> and the social level expresses the functional role of <power>. It is observed that the social and cultural levels are as interconnected as world and discourse in the constitution of identity promotion: planes that move and twist in a straight line which does not break; the comings and goings from one level to another indicate the anatomical parts of a network unit. Language not only represents the world but presents 'anátomas'4 of the world.

Media discourse presents itself. In the fragment:

"Women presidents. When the President- elect of Finland Tarja Halonem is inaugurated this month, there will be five women chiefs of state in office among the 192 member states of the UNO. Besides these, there are two heads of government, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, and that of Bangladesh, Hasina Wajed, not to mention the all-powerful American Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright..."5

the feminine manifestation unveils 'femininitude' in action. "Women presidents," "the President-elect of Finland," chiefs of state," "heads of government," "the all-powerful Secretary of State" confirm the practice of power in the social role. Nevertheless, a discourse implication emerges: among the 192 member states, 5 are headed by women. What about the remainder? The social role resides....

The exercise of 'femininitude' persists and reaffirms itself:

"The feminine outlook on the world: less than three years away from the elections for the presidency, a group of women politicians is anticipating the succession debate. In the elections this year, women candidates run for the mayorship of eight capital cities, including the two largest in the country, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where Marta Suplicy and Benedita da Silva are strong competitors. According to the mood of the voters polled, women can move a head much further. In the same poll, it was asked what was the difference between men and women governors. Women were considered more trustworthy, honest, competent, steadfast, capable and responsible. This is undeniable progress for a country where women conquered the right to vote rather late and were always a minority in parliament and executive positions..."6

Notwithstanding, despite all the qualifications indicating social power - "women politicians," "competent," "steadfast," "capable" -, 'femininess' is still sustained by the masculine manifestation, to the extent that the comparative element "more" demonstrates the powerful presence of masculine political power. The attributes allocated to feminine power are a counterpart to men’s attributes. The undeniable progress of the feminine manifestation is in relation to a path already covered by the masculine manifestation.

The ex-governor of the State of Maranhão, an ex-possible candidate for the presidency of Brazil, in spite of being in the exercise of 'femininitude,' corroborates the continuous presence of the femininity 'hindrance' in the exercise of the power role.

"...Roseana does not make statements of feminist leaning. 'I do not have the inclination for being a martyr. If women spent their time complaining about the occasions when they had been underestimated, there would be no time left for anything else,' she says. When she has to mention somebody admirable, she would rather quote Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of England, so tough a lady that she won herself the nickname of Iron Lady. 'That's the woman I admire,' claims Roseana. But maybe it is difficult to find, throughout History, a personality so different from Roseana's than that of the former British Prime Minister..."7

Roseana, representing feminine political power, does not deny the existence of femininity 'martyrs.' On the one hand, she denounces the phallocratic manifestation; on the other, she shows that power moves within the masculine manifestation: "Iron Lady," "tough lady." 'Femininitude' gets hold of attributes of the patriarchal system, denying femininity.

In turn, the advertising discourse of 'wear DuLoren' unveils the feminine figure's seduction power; a TV commercial shows a woman (alluding to Paula Jones) wearing DuLoren lingerie, sitting on a table in a sensual attitude and pulling off a man's tie. This man is sitting down (allusion to former President of the USA, Bill Clinton). The woman is saying, "Is this what you mean by potency?" Her power is sexual "potency" since it subverts masculine power. National American potency submits itself to feminine seduction power. The chorus "Do you know what DuLoren is capable of?" ratifies the power of femininity.

In the second TV commercial divided into two sequences, there is a woman with bare breasts wearing a DuLoren corselet. In the first sequence, she is lying on a man who is also lying down and looks as if he had been spanked; in the second, her arms are raised indicating her victory at the end of the fight. The masculine figure with an expression of pleased submission to the 'fight' that has just taken place, says, "Just because you are a woman, do you think you can treat me in this manner?" The simultaneous reply is the chorus, "Only DuLoren has an idea of what you are capable of." The verbal and image-related elements are united to show the 'manner power is conveyed'; it is through the power of seduction, of sexuality. The word "capable" hyperbolizes femininity attributes; femininity prevails through pleasure.

Two sheaves of sign systems used to convey thoughts are culturally organized in the binary categories of the feminine manifestation: femininity and 'femininitude.' But, due to the analytical proposition itself, there is the restriction that the semantic fields circumscribed are not caught in discourse itself but allude to social, cultural and ideological feminine configurations of the feminine being. Discourse fulfills its role of presenting the anatomical phenomenon of the sense of promoting women's identity. First, the mechanism of the making of the subject women is revealed in the social role of political office, with the cultural meaning of 'femininitude,' receiving ideological values of modern, up-dated women who are agents / doers.

Second, is the making of women in seduction roles, with nonexplicit social roles in the professional world, being signified by their behavior within femininity and invested with ideological values of traditional women. In spite of conveying apparent freedom, granted by the transgression allowed to those wearing DuLoren, their making remains at the service of pleasure, having in mind the pair emotion / reason instituted in the patriarchal system. Each subject in anatomical interaction uncovers the constitution of the woman figure identity - promoting flow.

The power of social roles shows cultural frameworks moving between the female component of femininity and the masculine component of 'femininitude.' It is not denied that the subjects women of 'femininitude' do not live well in levels occupied by the subjects women of femininity; notheless, very often, women must do away with femininity in order to exercise power. The feminine subject demonstrates it is in constant transference / change modalization (Greima, 1983), i.e., in a continuous flow of value-promoting transformations moving among differentiated subjects. Maybe the making of the feminine manifestation, of transferable nature, struggles to become something which it had not been before (Landowiski, 1998), or maybe it strives to become something which it already is; regardless of the direction of the movement, the anatomical flow is a continuous multicultural motion.

Quine (apud Rajagopalan, 1994) is inspiring in his statement "to be is to be the value of a variable," postulate which can be reread in view of the identity-promoting process here proposed. The sentence defines the anatomical system of the feminine identity. The variable contains the social role and its cultural meaning, which manifests itself in discourse by means of value investments. The subject lives in the social level, is identified by the social roles it plays and signifies in the semantic universe which is established, constituting a variable of a whole.

Are subjects constituted of identity or identity-promoting processes ?

About the Author

Dr Ferreira is conducting postdoctoral research at the State University of Campinas, Brazil and has teaching and research interests in semiotics and pragmatics.

Email: dinaferreira@terra.com.br

Notes

(1) Translator: Odila da Silveira Jambor

(2) The use of simple quotation marks indicates the use of neologism and / or stylistic resources necessary for analytic argumentation.

(3) 'Feminilitude' is a neologism created [in Portuguese], from the work of Moi (1985) in English, so as to cope with the cultural bipartition given to the feminine manifestation. Translator's note: In English, a neologism was also the use of 'femininitude'. The use of the neologism in the translation was due to the Author's requirements, so as to meet the meaning objectives in the analytical proposition, that is, to purposely deviate from that which is considered standard in language. According to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition, Random House, New York, 1992, p. 2033.

"-tude, [is] a suffix appearing in abstract nouns (generally formed from Latin adjectives or participles) of Latin origin (latitude; altitude); on this model, used in the formation of new nouns: platitude."

(4) 'Anátoma', here a neologism, but a proposition for an epistemic category that will account for the phenomenon that the meaning of essence occurs manifest in language through particles of an unaccessible whole.

(5) Veja magazine, March 22, 2000, p.58.

(6) Veja magazine, March 10, 2000, p.4

(7) Veja magazine, February 2, 2000, p.40.

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