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'''Luce Irigaray''' ([[born ]] [[1930]] [[Belgium]]) is a [[France|French]] [[feminism|feminist]] and [[psychoanalytic theory|psychoanalytic]] and [[culture theory|cultural theorist]]. She is best known for her works ''Speculum of the [[Other ]] [[Woman]]'' ([[1974]]) and ''This Sex Which Is Not One'' ([[1977]]).

Irigaray received a [[Master's Degree]] from the [[University of Louvain]] in [[1955]]. She taught in a [[Brussels]] [[school ]] from 1956-1959. She moved to [[France ]] in the early 1960s. In [[1961]] she received a [[Master]]'s Degree in [[psychology ]] from the [[University of Paris]]. In [[1962]] she received a Diploma in [[Psychopathology]]. From 1962-1964 she worked for the ''[[Fondation Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique]]'' (FNRS) in Belgium. She then began [[work ]] as a research assistant at the ''[[Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique]]'' (CNRS) in [[Paris]].

In the 1960s Irigaray participated in [[Jacques Lacan]]'s [[psychoanalytic ]] [[seminars]]. She trained as and became an [[analyst]]. In [[1968]] she received a Doctorate in [[Linguistics]]. From 1970-1974 she taught at the [[University of Vincennes]]. At this [[time ]] Irigaray was a member of the ''[[Ecole Freudienne de Paris]]'' (EFP), a school directed by Lacan. In [[1969]] she analysed [[Antoinette Fouque]], a [[feminist ]] [[leader ]] of the time.

Irigaray's second Doctorate [[thesis]], "Speculum of the Other Woman," was closely followed by the [[termination ]] of her employment at [[Vincennes ]] [[University]].

In the second semester of [[1982]], Irigaray held the [[chair ]] in [[Philosophy ]] at the [[Erasmus University]] in [[Rotterdam]]. Research here resulted in the publication of An [[Ethics ]] of [[Sexual ]] [[Difference]], establishing Irigaray as a major Continental [[philosopher]].

Irigaray has conducted research since the 1980s at the ''Centre National de Recherche Scientifique'' in Paris on the difference between the [[language ]] of [[women ]] and the language of men. In 1986 she transferred from the Psychology Commission to the Philosophy Commission as the latter is her preferred [[discipline]].

Irigaray is inspired by the psychoanalytic theories of [[Jacques Lacan]] and the [[deconstruction ]] of [[Jacques Derrida]]. She has [[three ]] intentions with her work: to expose the [[male ]] [[ideology ]] underlying our [[whole ]] [[system ]] of [[meaning ]] and thus also our language; to create a [[feminine ]] countersystem to provide a positive sexual [[identity ]] for women; and to establish an [[intersubjective ]] relation of '[[being ]] two' between men and women. One of her key [[thoughts ]] is ‘the [[logic ]] of the same’ or ''[[phallogocentrism]]'', a [[concept ]] expressing how society’s two [[gender ]] [[categories]], man and woman, are in fact just one, man, as he is made the [[universal ]] [[referent]].

The aim would then be to create two equally positive and [[autonomous ]] [[terms]], and to acknowledge two [[sexes]], not one. Following this line of [[thought]], with [[Lacan]]’s [[mirror ]] [[stage ]] and [[Derrida]]’s [[theory ]] of [[logocentrism]] in the background, Irigaray also criticises the favouring of unitary [[truth ]] within patriarchal [[society]]. In her theory for creating a new disruptive [[form ]] of feminine [[writing ]] ([[Écriture féminine]]), she focuses on the child’s [[pre-Oedipal]] [[phase ]] when [[experience ]] and [[knowledge ]] is based on [[bodily ]] contact, primarily with the [[mother]]. Here lies one major interest, the mother-daughter [[relationship]], which she considers devalued in patriarchal society. Luce Irigaray is often associated with [[Hélène Cixous]] and [[Julia Kristeva]].