SHULAMITH FIRESTONE’S RADICAL FEMINIST THOUGHT AND THE RELATIONSHIP TO SEX-BASED RIGHTS: THE CASE FOR CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST REVOLUTION
Keywords:
Shulamith Firestone, historical materialism, sex class system, radical feminismAbstract
The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (1970) by Shulamith Firestone is one of the earliest and fundamental texts that posits the postulates of radical feminist theories within the second wave of feminism. The theory that Marx and Engels based on the historical analysis of the material reality of productive relations in class society is, for her, only one part of that reality. For Firestone, as well as for radical feminists, the basic class division is the one based on sex, and not on economic classes.
The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to present how Firestone, while criticizing historical materialism, expounds sex classes division as the basis of social inequalities, as well as a critique of such a stance, primarily from the perspective of biological determinism. Second, the aim of this paper is to outline, based on Shulamith Firestone theory and the criticisms addressed, the extent to which radical feminist theory is responsible for articulating the legal protection of women on the basis of sex, and what significance and influence do the theory of the sex class system has in the present moment, when part of the women’s movement demands reconfirmation of women’s sex-based rights. Finally, the paper will contribute to the debate as to why the postulates of radical feminist theory – the sex class system and the concept of sex-based women’s rights – are relevant today, and what are the possible criticisms of such women’s organizing.
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