Repro-Woman: A View of the Labyrinth (from the Lithotomy Position)

Abstract

This is a paper about a relationship of power; about structures which house oppressive powers; about a definition of an exclusively female experience- redefined and recreated by the masculine understanding of the experience. But from where I lie, it is easy to see, but hard to speak. I speak from a cold table, laid here, my arms and legs bound to a base which I do not claim-suffering the unknowing gaze, the unfeeling touch, of my captors. As I am laid here in the lithotomy position-I can see only that which I am permitted to see. I can speak only in the voice-the tone-the pitch-from which one can speak when laid flat-on a cold table, in a foreign room. How did I get here? I didn't come here, I just opened my eyes and here I was, tied down. Through my pain, I will draw my letters and tell you about my friends in a hope that some of my horror will be heard.