Linguistics, Pleasure, and the "Feminine" Body in the Lyrics of Tori Amos

106 Pages·2015·0.4 MB·English

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Megim A. Parks
California State University - San Bernardino
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Parks, Megim A., ""Purple People": "Sexed" Linguistics, Pleasure, and the "Feminine" Body in the Lyrics of
Tori Amos" (2014). Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations. 5.
https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/5
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“PURPLE PEOPLE”: “SEXED” LINGUISTICS, PLEASURE, AND
THE “FEMININE” BODY IN THE LYRICS OF TORI AMOS
______________________
A Thesis
Presented to the
Faculty of
California State University,
San Bernardino
______________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
in
English Composition
______________________
by
Megim Alexi Parks
March 2014
“PURPLE PEOPLE”: “SEXED” LINGUISTICS, PLEASURE, AND
THE “FEMININE” BODY IN THE LYRICS OF TORI AMOS
______________________
A Thesis
Presented to the
Faculty of
California State University,
San Bernardino
______________________
by
Megim Alexi Parks
March 2014
______________________
Approved by:

Dr. Jacqueline Rhodes, Committee Chair, English
Dr. Caroline Vickers, Committee Member
Dr. Mary Boland, Graduate Coordinator
© 2014 Megim Alexi Parks
ABSTRACT

The notion of a “feminine” style has been staunchly resisted by third-wave
feminists who argue that to posit a “feminine” style is essentialist. Yet, linguists
such as Norma Mendoza-Denton and Elinor Ochs discuss indexicality and
shifting through salient variables, a process called entextualization. Further,
French feminists such as Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva use the linguistic
concept of intertextuality to explain certain poetic uses of language that might
cause what Luce Irigaray calls “irruption of the semiotic chora”—moments within
language where boundaries in the semiotic chain of signification are “blurred.”
Thus, while current feminism has moved strictly away from the idea that there is
an exigent “feminine” to which all women must aspire, there exists a tenuous, but
salient connection between the linguistic concepts of indexicality and
intertextuality on one hand, and jouissance and “irruption of the chora” on the
other that can inform those styles we might term “feminine” and allow for a more
productive and responsive perception of “femininity.”
Amos’ lyrics illustrate these theories working together; Amos’ lyrics
represent such a “feminine” style as indexed through use of salient variables;
thus, Amos’ lyrics represent a sociolinguistic phenomenon wherein gender-based
salient variables reform what “feminine” is and means, challenging social
attitudes and the specular feminine persona within both the personal and public
spheres. The implications of these theories could eventually influence
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perceptions of women in any particular profession or sphere, as gendered
linguistic markers influence gender roles and implications, which, in turn, inform
social change.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I want to thank my graduate coordinator, Dr. Mary Boland, for her constant
reassurance that I have the academic prowess necessary to complete this
project. I wish also to thank my thesis readers, Dr. Jacqueline Rhodes and Dr.
Caroline Vickers, for their help in completing this thesis. This work has been
painstaking and exhausting at some points, and I appreciate your support and
revisions. I want to also thank the department Chair, Dr. Sunny Hyon, and many
of my classmates and students who have supported me in my continuance of my
studies. I would be remiss if I did not thank my family and friends, especially Caid
and Ian Parks, Ryan Parks, Jennifer Parks, Ben Parks, and Barry Harvey, and
Ron Parks and Dee Parks, and also my parents, Andrea and Dean Fisher, for
their love and support and for their belief in my academic ability and their support
of my spending such exhausting hours in completing this project. I would also like
to thank a few of my co-workers for their support in completing this project,
namely, Anna Slavick-Lewis and Rob Hellebrand. For their encouragement I am
grateful.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Tori Amos for her songwriting, not to mention
for the ways she has helped me revision the “feminine” and to revision myself in
relationship to that ideology; and to the mainstays of my theoretical approach I
have a profound respect, namely, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler,
Norma Mendoza-Denton, Elinor Ochs, Penelope Eckert, and Roland Barthes.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... v
CHAPTER ONE: THEORY ................................................................................... 1
An Overview of the Specular and Textual Pleasure ................................... 2
Foreground: Identity Through Stylistic Moves ............................................ 4
Revisioning an Old Saw: Finding Peace Between
Disparate Theoretical Approaches ........................................................... 10
The Nonthematizable, Pleasurable Other ................................................ 13
Barthes: Pleasure, Intertextuality, and Desire .......................................... 18
Do Purple Bodies Matter?: Bodies By Butler ........................................... 21
A Final Note: Feminine Identity Styling/Performance ............................... 25
Musical Artists in General and Amos in Particular ................................... 26
Case In Point ........................................................................................... 28
CHAPTER TWO: EXPLICATION
Stage One--Mother, Shame, and the Wound ........................................... 31
“Mother” and Barthes ............................................................................... 33
Stage Two: Sexual Rage and Irruption of the Chora ............................... 47
Stage Three: Change/Jouissance ............................................................ 53
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CHAPTER THREE: BUTLER, THE SACRED AND
THE DISIDENTIFICATION OF NAMING ............................ 60
Foreground .............................................................................................. 62
Butler and the “Tacit Cruelties” of the Bound Thetic ................................ 64
The Sacred Act of Naming ....................................................................... 68
The Performative Power of the Name ...................................................... 74
Agency and Performative Power ............................................................. 83
Reopening Terms: “Women” and “Queer” ............................................... 85
The Forming of a (Logical) Subject .......................................................... 87
Afterword ................................................................................................. 91
WORKS CITED .................................................................................................. 93

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