War Metaphors in Feminist Discourse: A Subversive Position against Ethical Violence

ABSTRACT War metaphors are ubiquitous in feminism-related discourse, portraying activists as warriors against patriarchy. Recent research in critical discourse analysis shows positive and negative implications of using war metaphors in relation to political matters. The use of empowerment language reveals a subversive position taken by feminists in the construction of its own narrative. Building on Judith Butler’s idea of ethical violence, we examine the subversive position in feminist discourse as a form of response against the violent ethos that inhabits the symbolic construction of genders. This view is contrasted with Žižekian–Lacanian approaches to understand violence of exclusion as an effect of the Lacanian Real imposing a limit to the symbolic. The notion of sexuation and difference between gender and sex is analyzed from Butler´s and Lacanian perspectives. We distinguish between feminism and the Lacanian logic of the feminine, emphasizing the importance of situating the victim/warrior signifiers in terms of the function they fulfill for a speaking being. In the final section we propose an orientation toward devictimization of women in feminist discourse, in the spirit of recognition of the singularity and incompleteness of the subject in line with the logic of the Lacanian not-all.