Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love

For the effect of a speech act such that woman is the subject of the sentence and the predicate a more general term, that effect which dwells in the wne where the use ofwords produces the most basic elements of thought-and thought authorizes action, is to make ofwoman an essence, which, as essence, is eliminated from the world historical stage. This is precisely why the discourse ofmisogyny seems so repetitive, is so culturally constant, and seems to lack an internal history. Its purpose-to remove individual women from the realm of events-depends upon the transformation of woman into a general category, which, internally at least, appears never to change.