ELAINE HOFFMAN BARUCH
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democratic direction . This sort of society, at first , will have to
maintain itself by relying on certain conservative forces in the do–
main of morality , of sex, of the relations of individuals to each
other. It will have to avoid having too many explosions, too much
violence, too much free acting out of desires. So, there will be a
consolidation of the family. There will be a politics of high birth–
rate to favor women staying at home , while at the same time giv–
ing women part-time work, to satisfy women who work away from
home while at the same time taking care of their children . In fact
this is just what has been happening in Eastern Europe, with
lesser means and via a totalitarian regime . Those regimes too, are
feeling the crisis and will be driven to a relative liberalization - if
there is no war .
ERB:
What do you see as the place of love in this new conservatism
of the family?
JK:
It's the only thing which can save us . One would have to try, in
this situation, to save some territories of freedom. This would be
in the realm of affect: a place where people could explore the
limits of their discourse, of their thought, of their manipulation of
colors and sounds, of words, of whatever you like, so that they can
express themselves as they wish. But the space of freedom for the
individual is love - it is the only place, the only moment in life,
where the various precautions , defenses, conservatisms break
down, and one tries to go to the limit of one's being; so, it is fun–
damental.
ERB:
People such as Kate Millett in
Sexual Politics
and Shulamith
Firestone in
The Dialectic oj Sex
claim that love is a myth propa–
gated by men for the control of women.
JK:
Love is not something fixed; there is a history of love. In certain
instances, it is possible that it has been a means of blackmail by
one sex of the other- and essentially, of the female by the male.
But that is a vision, perhaps through the wrong end of the tele–
scope, which doesn't interest me very much because if you look at
things that way the whole of culture oppresses women. A madri–
gal , or Shakespeare, is antiwoman. What does one suggest as an
alternative? I for my part say that the love relation is the only
chance to go through narcissism towards the recognition of the
symbolic moment. And I would look with horror on a humanity
which tried to wipe out this symbolic moment.
