The Traffic in Women by Gayle Rubin “What is a domesticated woman? A female of the species. The one explanation is as good as the other. A woman is a woman. She only becomes a domestic, a wife, a chattel, a playboy bunny, a prostitute, or a human dictaphone in certain relations… What then are these relations by which a female becomes an oppressed woman?” (Rubin 158) Sex/Gender System: “the set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed needs are satisfied.” (Rubin 159)

Kinship and The Traffic in Women “the essence of kinship systems to lie in an exchange of women between men” (171) “a gift of a woman is more profound than the result of other gift transactions because the relationship thus established is not just one of reciprocity but one of kinship” (173) The exchange of women across the sex/gender system creates Larger networks of exchange Abilities for (re)production Accumulation of more surplus value Capital Rights and privileges Connections

Exchange and Power “If it is women who are being transacted, then, it is the men who give and take them who are linked, the woman being a conduit of a relationship rather than a partner to it” (174) Men as the exchange partners accumulate value; Women are in “no position to realize the benefit of their own circulation.” (174) “Transformation of objects (in this case people) to and by a subjective purpose” (176) “Exchange of women” is a shorthand for expressing that the social relations of a kinship system specify that men have certain rights in their female kin, and that women do not have the same rights either to themselves or to their male kin.” (178)

“Gender is a socially imposed division of the sexes.” The Traffic in Women creates identities through exchange to satisfy social needs and create value. What we see as a “woman” or a “man” is the transformation of biology into social actors through a set of constructed relations Wife Mother Laborer The oppression of women becomes necessary to maintain these social relations for the reproduction of value

Freedom through revolution and systemic change Critical thinking To see the problems not just the way things are Creative rethinking To envision new solutions to end oppression for all Active participation To engage in your society to make change happen