ABSTRACT
The relationship between 'Woman' – a cultural and ideological composite Other constructed through diverse representational discourses (scientific, literary, juridical, linguistic, cinematic, etc.) – and 'women' – real, material subjects of their collective histories – is one of the central questions the practice of feminist scholarship seeks to address. One such significant effect of the dominant 'representations' of Western feminism is its conflation with imperialism in the eyes of particular third world women. Hence the urgent need to examine the political implications of our analytic strategies and principles. Thus, the discursively consensual homogeneity of 'women' as a group is mistaken for the historically specific material reality of groups of women. This results in an assumption of women as an always already constituted group, one which has been labeled 'powerless,' 'exploited,' 'sexually harassed,' etc., by feminist scientific, economic, legal, and sociological discourses.
