Cixous explains that if a woman is speaking from her body, she is speaking of her own experiences and therefore telling her own story. When Cixous uses the word "woman," she is "speaking of woman in her inevitable struggle against conventional man; and of a universal woman subject who must bring women to their senses and to their meaning in history." In this universal woman subject, "personal history blends together with the history of all women, as well as national and world history."

However Cixous does not only talk about women collectively but also about the individual woman. At times it is difficult to distinguish whether Cixous is speaking of women as a united group or as a group of individuals who must act on their own.