Built for Motherhood or Built for Sex: Locating the True "Womanhood" in Sarah Treem's The How and The Why

Abstract

The movement of feminism and women's perceived role in social discourse and the world is in constant flux.  With her play The How and the Why, Sarah Treem seeks to explore not only this fluctuation, but the changing semiotics of female power and prowess through two scientists, who are estranged mother and daughter.  The feminist and psychological theory of Kristeva provides an ideal window into this examination of mind and body.  The play's focus on the purpose and importance of the female body, as well as the role which motherhood plays in the feminine experience, the work lends itself to analysis through the work of Kirsteva.  The biological and sociological construction of the female and the female body will also be investigated through the work of Margrit Shildrick.  The complex discourse between the two women in the play challenges the vocabulary which surrounds women's bodies, age defined roles, and expectations.  The additional examination of the writings of Cixous and Butler will illuminate the power of language and the vital nature of reshaping conversation through the shifting of language's meanings, signifiers and subjects.  In this paper I hope to prove that the play serves as a testing realm for the merits and short comings of first and second generation feminism, and the meaning of womanhood ascribed to each by society and the changing ideals of the movement.