Even if we do not approve of it, we all know what feminism is and what a great impact it has had on society and on everyday life in general.  However, maybe you did not know that the feminist theory has also dramatically influenced translation.

It all started when feminist translators and linguists began to analyse the translations that male translators had done of works written by women. They realised how gender-biased they often were, especially if they had been designated feminist books or articles. A famous example is the English translation of Le Deuxième Sex (The Second Sex) by Simone de Beauvoir. Howard Parshley was said to have deleted and omitted several parts of the book. For instance, de Beauvoir tried to draw a genealogy of female writers, scholars, artists and so on. Parshley cut most of these names, without giving any justification for his choice.

What does this mean? That it is impossible to achieve a translation that can be considered objective, especially for literary and controversial texts such as Le Deuxième Sex. Donna Haraway (in the picture) embodies this concept in the expression ‘situated knowledges’. It means that we do not start from an objective point of view, but rather from a set of beliefs and clichés we should be well aware of when we translate. So, we will always be influenced by our experiences and so on. This in turn links to the reasons why some translators prefer to avoid certain topics. They feel that their opinions would prevent themselves from delivering a faithful translation.

Of course I don’t want to force you to agree with the feminist theory, but what I have always found so fascinating is the acknowledgement that translators make choices, even brave ones, but it is vital that they always have to inform the readership, for example through footnotes and prefaces.  So, do you agree with Donna Haraway’s opinion? Please let us know!

CHIARA VECCHI