The Dialectic of Sex

The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution
Cover of the first edition, with a portrait of an anonymous woman by Edgar Degas
AuthorShulamith Firestone
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectRadical feminism
PublisherWilliam Morrow and Company
Publication date
October 1970[1]
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback)
Pages216
ISBN978-1784780524
OCLC98546
TextThe Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution at Internet Archive

The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution is a 1970 book by the radical feminist activist Shulamith Firestone. Written over a few months when Firestone was 25, it has been described as a classic of feminist thought.[1][2]

Firestone argues that the "sexual class system"[3] predates and runs deeper than any other form of oppression, and that the eradication of sexism will require a radical reordering of society: "The first women are fleeing the massacre, and, shaking and tottering, are beginning to find each other. ... This is painful: no matter how many levels of consciousness one reaches, the problem always goes deeper. It is everywhere. ... feminists have to question, not just all of Western culture, but the organization of culture itself, and further, even the very organization of nature."[4]

The goal of the feminist revolution, she wrote, must be "not just the elimination of male privilege but of the sex distinction itself" so that genital differences no longer have cultural significance.[5]

  1. ^ a b Faludi 2013.
  2. ^ Warren 1980, pp. 155–157.
  3. ^ Firestone 1970, p. 29.
  4. ^ Firestone 1970, pp. 3–4.
  5. ^ Firestone 1970, p. 11.

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