Write! Writing is for you, you are for you, your body is for you, take it.

First published in 1975, Medusa’s Laugh represented a defining moment for French feminism. In this landmark essay, feminist theorist and philosopher Hélène Cixous coined the term écriture féminine (or ‘feminine writing’). Allowing women to claim authority in the face of systematic oppression, she imagines this new mode of writing to be defined by a generous, open attitude to otherness and distinct from patriarchal models of communication. Part philosophical treatise, part political manifesto, Medusa’s Laugh is a clarion call to write – for ourselves and of ourselves – and is one of the most important works of second-wave feminism.

Translated by Eric Prenowitz.