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A review by jessliay
The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution by Shulamith Firestone
My take on The Dialectic of Sex is that Firestone’s arguments really do not fare well in the context of our current society. She seems to pare down oppression of women to an argument for the abolition of biological reproduction which would free women from the inequalities inherent in childbirth/rearing. The feminism that Firestone is arguing for denies the existence of women who are not biologically female and, although there is an attempt made to expand upon Marx and Engel’s theories of oppression, she does not take into consideration the necessity of intersectional feminism. I think (though I’m not 100% certain) that Firestone’s ideal feminist revolution must overthrow the existing modes of reproduction, which in the technological age, is becoming more and more possible. But I think that the oppression of women goes beyond biology and has more to do with the woman as a commodity; an object to be stabilized and destabilized under capitalism and until we revolt against this economic system, all oppressed people will never be free.