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The Straight Mind: And Other Essays

4.08 of 5 stars 4.08 · rating details · 153 ratings · 14 reviews

These political, philosophical, and literary essays mark the first collection of theoretical writing from the acclaimed novelist and French feminist writer Monique Wittig.

Paperback, 128 pages

Published February 3rd 1992 by Beacon Press (first published 1992)

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Nov 23, 2008 Vaughn rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

Recommended to Vaughn by: got the title from citation in Butler's Gender Trouble

Shelves: gender

I'm still reading this with Serano's new book in the back of my mind, and especially with Wittig's essays in the front of my mind, since Butler deals with her "materialist feminism" quite a bit. For Wittig, all gender, "male" and "female" is part of a single construct which patriarchal oppression created-- not vice versa (she equates sexual difference theory a la Irigaray with blaming the victim). Gender is how patriarchy marks bodies so that they are processed through the usual undisturbed cha...more I'm still reading this with Serano's new book in the back of my mind, and especially with Wittig's essays in the front of my mind, since Butler deals with her "materialist feminism" quite a bit. For Wittig, all gender, "male" and "female" is part of a single construct which patriarchal oppression created-- not vice versa (she equates sexual difference theory a la Irigaray with blaming the victim). Gender is how patriarchy marks bodies so that they are processed through the usual undisturbed channels of socialization and heterosexual society operates smoothly. This is a material semiotic process in which material bodies are made to serve as material signs, which is why she refers to "marking" rather than "construction."
Now, despite Wittig's avowed materialism (of the Marxist sort), her position on the origin of all gender in oppression does not allow Serano's distiction among "gender expression," "unconscious sex" and "biological sex" to be a real distinction. Serano introduced that distinction to do justice to her experience of a painful dissonance among her unconscious sex (female), gender expression ("tomboyish"), and biological sex (male). For Wittig, perhaps Serano was insufficiently processed and marked by the heterosexual order, resulting in her transsexualism. I don't know what W. would say to it. The more interesting question Wittig might raise to Serano is, "The fact that you pass for [in the French sense] a trans lesbian, is more evidence for the fact that lesbians are not women." If one who mostly escapes heterosexual marking as "female" is a lesbian according to Wittig, what about one who mostly escapes heterosexual marking as a "male?" This raises the question: if lesbians are not women, according to Wittig's origin-of-sex theory, they cannot be men either. And those fugitives from sex who escape the usual channels that mark them as one or the other-- are they all fundamentally lesbians? That seems wrong. What about gay men? By her logic they are not really men in the heterosexual sense, which is the only sense in which "man" makes sense to the dominant social order that creates men. And what about a transsexual? Wittig's theory anticipates the possibility of queer transgendered people; in fact, the theory suggests that some element of transgenderism is inevitable when one becomes queer.
Elizabeth D. Däumer's paper "Queer Ethics; or, the Challenge of Bisexuality to Lesbian ethics" goes right to the heart of this matter. It asks whether a lesbian, on Wittig's theory of hetero. marking as sex difference, need be female, and whether a lesbian relationship (which is the process that erases hetero. sex marking, it seems) is necessarily between two females. Clearly, it is on the other hand necessarily ~not~ between two women, because the category of woman is an effect of heretosexual marking. Wittig, and certainly Butler in G.T., wants to say that sex is a social designation as much as gender. So, as Däumer considers, Wittig's theory may entail that the lesbian relationship crosses all previous hetero. markings and thus all sexes and genders. It's likely that the word 'lesbian' is being applied beyond any recognizable usage here. Whatever name you wish to put to this sort of relationship, its content is a sort of anti-hetero. sexual/gender ethics which seems to me to herald the possibility of a truly universalist androgynous society. (less)

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Mar 02, 2011 David Spencer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: best

Monique Wittig writes about using language as a Trojan horse, and did I ever get one delivered through this collection of essays. I was hit with a war machine that exploded in my brain. I think this should be required reading to graduate high school. There should be a yearlong class you HAVE to take that is just writing critical essays on these essays. It is, along with Camus' essays, one of the best sources of advice and inspiration to create something with words, and to reinterpret what that e...more

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Mar 13, 2008 Steven rated it 5 of 5 stars

As a reader who is infinitely interested in gender politics, I found this collection of philosophical essays very valuable. Because of this background, this book was not as mind bending for me as I’m sure it would be for some readers, yet Wittig’s slant on gender identity and how it relates to writing was different enough that I was opened to some new ideas.
The first idea that struck me came from the book’s eponymous essay that challenges the notion that “what founds society, any society, is...more As a reader who is infinitely interested in gender politics, I found this collection of philosophical essays very valuable. Because of this background, this book was not as mind bending for me as I’m sure it would be for some readers, yet Wittig’s slant on gender identity and how it relates to writing was different enough that I was opened to some new ideas.
The first idea that struck me came from the book’s eponymous essay that challenges the notion that “what founds society, any society, is heterosexuality” (24), which in and of itself is not a shocking revelation for me, but where Wittig takes this hypothesis is what I found fascinating. She believes that it is the social categories of gender and society’s unquestioning acceptance of them that keeps the oppressive institution of heterosexuality in place. Furthermore, she posits that if “lesbian and gay men…continue to speak of ourselves and to conceive of ourselves as women and as men, we are instrumental in maintaining heterosexuality” (30). This idea is exactly what America needs to examine right now: the ability of every human being to recognize all the qualities in themselves that society has dichotomized between the genders. I feel that readers will be challenged when they read this book to look at themselves and wonder if they have these feelings of gender ambivalence on some level and at what cost it is to live with that tension everyday.
Lastly, the essay “Homo Sum” enlightened me by introducing many of the early tenets on which most of modern philosophy is based. I have always enjoyed reading philosophy, but have very little background in studying it. So, I was unaware that both Plato and Aristotle based their main philosophical polarizations on Pythagoras’ mathematical opposites, and that this was the origin of aligning “straight,” “male,” and “white/light” as the dominant and positive forces of society (49-51). Moreover, I didn’t realize how prevalent these dichotomies were and how “Every philosopher of our modern age…will tell us that without these precise categories of opposition (of difference), one cannot reason or think or, even better, that outside of them meaning cannot shape itself” (52). Of course, what I appreciate most about Wittig’s style is that she always has a call to action based on her thinking, and here she urges all minority/oppressed people to reject these schisms and “do without the privilege of being different as a ‘right to be different,’ …never abandon[ing] themselves to the ‘pride of being different’” (55). I feel that as we approach this pivotal time in American politics, with the upcoming election being so charged with the debate over gender, Wittig’s thorough and insightful thinking on this subject should be kept in mind.(less)

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Feb 24, 2012 Andreea rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: lgbt, women-writers, theory, essays

So many different kinds of awesome...

...ehh, I mean, yes, obviously, the systematic oppression of women is quite the opposite of awesome, Monique Wittig, however, is its epitome.

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Oct 02, 2012 Annick rated it 5 of 5 stars

Strikingly readable, incredibly important work. Je l'ai lu en français alors que les essais ont été d'abord publiés en anglais.

"Lesbians are not women." (Wittig, 1978)

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Oct 11, 2009 Lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: essays, feminism, gender, queer, the-body

At the root of Monique Wittig’s various arguments is the concept that the categories of sex are socially constructed, which she lays out in the very first essay of the collection, “The Category of Sex.” This particular argument is also the clearest of all her arguments. Wittig also examines heterosexuality in a way that implies its socially constructed nature. One of the major problems of the book is that Wittig’s arguments often get lost in her use of language and her style. There were times wh...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Consuelo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: queer-and-gender

Theoretically brilliant, even if a (poltical) "child of its time".

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Mar 20, 2013 Ian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Spicy.

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Jul 30, 2009 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: academic, lgbt, nonfiction, psychology

Fabulous and still thought-provoking.

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Nov 27, 2008 laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

'the category of sex' & 'one is not born a woman'

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Jan 27, 2008 Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars

Genderqueer before the concept had been coined and commodified. Quotes about lesbians not being women, the "'I' exalted, and excess are easily - and often - decontextualized and misinterpreted/misused.

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Jan 27, 2008 Monica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wittig is a genius. Her perspectives on gender, sexuality, and social constructions are dead on and I wish everyone would read a copy of this book. It would make for a much more openminded world.

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Jul 02, 2008 Zigforas marked it as read-excerpts

Recommended to Zigforas by: Reli 424: Gender Theory & Religion

Shelves: academic-work, gender, religious-studies

Selections: "One Is Not Born A Woman" (1981)

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Jul 17, 2009 Catherine added it

lesbian feminism

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May 08, 2013 Hassan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: essai, genre

May 01, 2013 Anyazelie Zéphyaire marked it as of-interest

Shelves: feminist, critical-theory

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About Monique Wittig

Monique Wittig was a French author and feminist theorist particularly interested in overcoming gender and the heterosexual contract. She published her first novel, L'opoponax, in 1964 . Her second novel, Les Guérillères (1969), was a landmark in lesbian feminism.

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