The truth of Creuza. Foucault, violence and feminist politics

The paper is devoted to the issue of truth telling (parrhesia) in politics. It draws on Michel Foucault's late lectures on this subject and challenges his reading of the ancient prototype of boldly speaking the truth, which is present in Euripides’ drama Ion. The research shows that although Creuza – the mother of the main character of the drama – was, according to Foucault, the ancient precursor of parrhesia, the French philosopher consistently hides or blurs the fact, that Creuza spoke about the experience of rape and boldly revealed her rapist – the God Apollo. The article shows how more careful reading of Ion offers new understanding of what the actual truth of Creuza is, and thus it re-examines the status of sexual violence against women in Western politics and demonstrates its paradigmatic obscurity within European political thought. Additionally, the interpretation of Creuza’s act of fearless speech, when placed within gender hierarchies of ancient polis, produces opportunities to refine truth telling as a political and feminist practice. It transforms parrhesia into an act of resistance of non-citizens, a revolutionary speech of subordinates, who goes beyond available discourse and speak outside of the legitimate space of public forum. Parrhesia becomes a risky act of self-determination and enactment of political space, going directly against male exclusionary norms and the official register of democratic rules and practices. The paper offers a refined notion of truth telling, and argues, by using recent examples from feminist movements, that in such a shape, the notion brings important potential for contemporary struggles.