Overview Continuation of Radical Feminist Thinkers Andrea Dworkin Gayle Rubin Rebecca Walker Discussion/Hand-out Midterm

Gayle Rubin Reaction to Marx –Marx can’t explain why women’s oppression exists in agricultural, h and g societies Social whole contains three domains: –Political, economic, and sexual –The sexual is not “natural” Creates sex/gender system –We are gendered as opposites who desire the other –Upholds strict gender roles and heterosexuality

Gayle Rubin Sex/gender system –Creates the division of labor of sexes –Which creates need for the other- heterosexism Oppression lies in sex/gender system and the domestication of women Most of societies are organized through a system of kinship –Governs who you can marry, who you can’t, inheritance, paternity/lineage of children, incest taboos, sexual access, names

Gayle Rubin The exchange of women is the basis of kinship –Gift-giving establishes alliances –Women exchange establishes kinship through marriage and children –Produces the subordination of women Social organization of patriarchy rests upon oppositional gender roles, obligatory heterosexism, the constraint of female sexuality, and suppression of homosexuality

Gayle Rubin Social change: Feminist revolution would liberate all forms of sexual expression and would liberate human personality from the straightjacket of gender Not about the elimination of men, but the elimination of the social system that creates gender and sexual roles

Rebecca Walker Third wave feminist –Daughter of Alice Walker Rethinking women’s sexual agency and empowerment Acknowledges oppressive forces against women’s sexual agency (AIDS, limited access to health care, compulsory heterosexuality, stigmas, “right” and “wrong”, marriage, procreation) Female sexuality and empowerment based on pleasure and exploration