2,009 books
—
2,971 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “Sexual Politics” as Want to Read:
Sexual Politics
by
Identifying patriarchy as a socially conditioned belief system masquerading as nature, the author demonstrates how its attitudes and systems penetrate literature, philosophy, psychology, and politics. Her work rocked the foundations of the literary canon by castigating time-honored classics for their use of sex to degrade women.
Get A Copy
Paperback, 424 pages
Published
March 8th 2000
by University of Illinois Press
(first published 1969)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
Sexual Politics,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about Sexual Politics
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Revived Review to commemorate the passing of Kate Millett, Feminist critic, 1934-2017.
(Thanks to David Schaafsma for the gentle reminder.)
****************************
Yes, it's Week Four of STRICTLY COME NOVELISTS
(note - this is the British version of DANCING WITH THE NOVELISTS)
Tess Daley (blondly) : And here, dancing the American smooth with his partner Ola Jordan,
is Count Leo Tolstoy.
Revived Review to commemorate the passing of Kate Millett, Feminist critic, 1934-2017.
(Thanks to David Schaafsma for the gentle reminder.)
****************************
Yes, it's Week Four of STRICTLY COME NOVELISTS
(note - this is the British version of DANCING WITH THE NOVELISTS)
Tess Daley (blondly) : And here, dancing the American smooth with his partner Ola Jordan,
is Count Leo Tolstoy.
(Music : From Russia with Love. The couple cavort.)
Sir Bruce (as the couple shimmies from the dance floor) : Well done, well done Leo. I'm glad you were able to finish your dance in less than 700 pages. (Mild titters from audience.) Come on, I thought it was better than that. Anyway. Let's hear what the judges have to say. We'll start with Bruno.
Bruno Toneoli : Oooooh Count! (Waves arms wildly) It was powerful, strong, progressive, and yet (a sudden coquettish half-smile) just a trifle chauvinistic in your flicks and kicks.
Len Goodman : What's he talkin' about? (Addresses Tolstoy directly). Count, it was smashin'. Cor, the battles, the drama, the journeys from one end of Europe to the other - that's the stuff to give the troops. Lovely.
Sir Bruce : And Craig? I hope you're not going to rain on this parade.
Craig Revel Horwood : Well darling, the armature was positively dashing, the costumes flamboyant enough to beat the band and in two words, de licious.
Sir Bruce : Oh, you actually had something nice to say, then. You must need a lie down now. (Raises eyebrows towards the audience.) Alesha, my dear, did you like the armature?
Alesha Dixon : Well I thought it had a few problems. (Len and Bruno look askance, like, what does she know anyway, she's only on this show because she's a gorgeous young woman, come on admit it everyone). I thought the choreography was sharp on the position of the serfs and the capework could certainly be read as a marvelous satire on upper class indifference to the suffering of the lower orders and, yes, the entire routine as an adumbration of the social revolution of Bakunin, still, I'm sorry to say that the position of women (groans from the audience)
was frankly terrible, and if we take your overly aggressive determination to lead throughout your American smooth as in any way indicative, I have to say you showed an undeviating and I would even say cruel adherence to an outmoded patriarchy.
Sir Bruce : Oh, ooh well, I didn't even understand half of that. Off you go.
Tolstoy and Ola trip up the stairs and are interviewed briefly by Tess.
Tess : So, a bit of controversy there. What did you make of Alesha's comments?
Tolstoy : Vimmin is not problem. Vimmen are life eetself. Violence inherent in class system ees problem.
Tess (chirpily, blondly) : But Count, unless the egregious imbalance of power between the sexes is at least acknowledged, social progress remains a boy's game played by boy's rules and on whatever wide canvas you choose to paint your great men of history they will in time be seen as parochial cul-de-sacs. (The Count looks miffed. Maybe vimmen are the problem.) The scores are in.
Announcer : Will the judges please reveal their scores? Craig Revel Horwood!
Craig : Four. (audience hisses)
Announcer : Len Goodman
Len : Sev-ennn!
Announcer : Alesha Dixon
Alesha : Two! (Defiantly)
Announcer : Bruno Tonioli
Bruno : Eight!
Tess : So, 21 out of 40 Count - do you think that will be enough to see you through to the next round?
Tolstoy : I am uniquely unhappy.
Tess : You seem to have lost your Russian accent.
Tolstoy : It comes and goes.
**
Just a short note to add to the frolics - Kate Millett's book ramified my mind when I read it and convinced me I was right to loathe Henry Miller and to think D H Lawrence had a screw loose. It was bold and bracing, and necessary.
However, the problem is that after feminism there is the tendency to read back, or reread past works and kind of score them for their progressive or regressive tendencies, and make literature into a liberal beauty parade. Which it isn't. For me this book was the beginning of the political correctness debate, which still rages - see all the arguing about American Psycho where you get people talking past each other all the time - "this is misogynist shit!" "No, it's a satire of capitalism!" "Then it's a misogynistic satire of capitalism!" "Get back in your box you politically correct muppet, or we'll chainsaw you too!" Etc, etc. I wonder what Kate Millett would make of the Dark Romance sub-genre like Pretty When she Cries and Comfort Food - I saw one goodreader saying "I'm a fan of NC fiction" - NC means Non-Consensual, meaning rape. There's a genre of this? That's such a depressing thought. ...more
(Thanks to David Schaafsma for the gentle reminder.)
****************************
Yes, it's Week Four of STRICTLY COME NOVELISTS
(note - this is the British version of DANCING WITH THE NOVELISTS)
Tess Daley (blondly) : And here, dancing the American smooth with his partner Ola Jordan,
is Count Leo Tolstoy.
Revived Review to commemorate the passing of Kate Millett, Feminist critic, 1934-2017.
Revived Review to commemorate the passing of Kate Millett, Feminist critic, 1934-2017.(Thanks to David Schaafsma for the gentle reminder.)
****************************
Yes, it's Week Four of STRICTLY COME NOVELISTS
(note - this is the British version of DANCING WITH THE NOVELISTS)
Tess Daley (blondly) : And here, dancing the American smooth with his partner Ola Jordan,
is Count Leo Tolstoy.
(Music : From Russia with Love. The couple cavort.)
Sir Bruce (as the couple shimmies from the dance floor) : Well done, well done Leo. I'm glad you were able to finish your dance in less than 700 pages. (Mild titters from audience.) Come on, I thought it was better than that. Anyway. Let's hear what the judges have to say. We'll start with Bruno.
Bruno Toneoli : Oooooh Count! (Waves arms wildly) It was powerful, strong, progressive, and yet (a sudden coquettish half-smile) just a trifle chauvinistic in your flicks and kicks.
Len Goodman : What's he talkin' about? (Addresses Tolstoy directly). Count, it was smashin'. Cor, the battles, the drama, the journeys from one end of Europe to the other - that's the stuff to give the troops. Lovely.
Sir Bruce : And Craig? I hope you're not going to rain on this parade.
Craig Revel Horwood : Well darling, the armature was positively dashing, the costumes flamboyant enough to beat the band and in two words, de licious.
Sir Bruce : Oh, you actually had something nice to say, then. You must need a lie down now. (Raises eyebrows towards the audience.) Alesha, my dear, did you like the armature?
Alesha Dixon : Well I thought it had a few problems. (Len and Bruno look askance, like, what does she know anyway, she's only on this show because she's a gorgeous young woman, come on admit it everyone). I thought the choreography was sharp on the position of the serfs and the capework could certainly be read as a marvelous satire on upper class indifference to the suffering of the lower orders and, yes, the entire routine as an adumbration of the social revolution of Bakunin, still, I'm sorry to say that the position of women (groans from the audience)
was frankly terrible, and if we take your overly aggressive determination to lead throughout your American smooth as in any way indicative, I have to say you showed an undeviating and I would even say cruel adherence to an outmoded patriarchy.
Sir Bruce : Oh, ooh well, I didn't even understand half of that. Off you go.
Tolstoy and Ola trip up the stairs and are interviewed briefly by Tess.
Tess : So, a bit of controversy there. What did you make of Alesha's comments?
Tolstoy : Vimmin is not problem. Vimmen are life eetself. Violence inherent in class system ees problem.
Tess (chirpily, blondly) : But Count, unless the egregious imbalance of power between the sexes is at least acknowledged, social progress remains a boy's game played by boy's rules and on whatever wide canvas you choose to paint your great men of history they will in time be seen as parochial cul-de-sacs. (The Count looks miffed. Maybe vimmen are the problem.) The scores are in.
Announcer : Will the judges please reveal their scores? Craig Revel Horwood!
Craig : Four. (audience hisses)
Announcer : Len Goodman
Len : Sev-ennn!
Announcer : Alesha Dixon
Alesha : Two! (Defiantly)
Announcer : Bruno Tonioli
Bruno : Eight!
Tess : So, 21 out of 40 Count - do you think that will be enough to see you through to the next round?
Tolstoy : I am uniquely unhappy.
Tess : You seem to have lost your Russian accent.
Tolstoy : It comes and goes.
**
Just a short note to add to the frolics - Kate Millett's book ramified my mind when I read it and convinced me I was right to loathe Henry Miller and to think D H Lawrence had a screw loose. It was bold and bracing, and necessary.
However, the problem is that after feminism there is the tendency to read back, or reread past works and kind of score them for their progressive or regressive tendencies, and make literature into a liberal beauty parade. Which it isn't. For me this book was the beginning of the political correctness debate, which still rages - see all the arguing about American Psycho where you get people talking past each other all the time - "this is misogynist shit!" "No, it's a satire of capitalism!" "Then it's a misogynistic satire of capitalism!" "Get back in your box you politically correct muppet, or we'll chainsaw you too!" Etc, etc. I wonder what Kate Millett would make of the Dark Romance sub-genre like Pretty When she Cries and Comfort Food - I saw one goodreader saying "I'm a fan of NC fiction" - NC means Non-Consensual, meaning rape. There's a genre of this? That's such a depressing thought. ...more
It ruined D H Lawrence for me, but we all get somewhere we realize our favorite author is sexist, especially those who had good women in their lives and I don't know why.
If you like feminist literary criticism and if you don't mind your favorite authors being criticized,you will definitely like this. It's super fluid and fun and feminist.
If you like feminist literary criticism and if you don't mind your favorite authors being criticized,you will definitely like this. It's super fluid and fun and feminist.
R.I.P. Kate Millett, who died yesterday in Paris. This book, which I read parts of in the seventies, and read more of in the eighties, and have occasionally used in my teaching. is responsible for founding feminist literary studies, focusing on what now seem to be (thanks to her) obvious examples--Henry Miller, Norman Mailer-- though she is also takes her scalpel to romantic favorites (of mine) Lawrence and Hardy (ouch; and I still quibble with her on her views of certain works in Hardy and Lawr
...more
Everyone always says that this book founded feminist literary studies even though OBVIOUSLY Simone De Beauvoir was the real founder with her essays on several of the same authors in Second Sex. I know it's not as fun to think so though since she founded EVERYTHING else already. However, Sexual Politics is mind-blowingly brilliant. One of the few literary theory books which leaves you analyzing the patterns of your own life and recognizing underlying structures you instictively knew, but could no
...more
An eyeopener. Moving, so scanning in some books. My favorite ones. After reading this, I swore off Mailer and H. Miller forever. Met Kate later, when she was making art in a studio in the East Village. My idea of an artistic rebel.
4.5
We all know how easy it is to look back and criticize. It is very easy, but to do it eloquently, lucidly, and with the goal of creating a measuring stick for sexual politics is a feat to celebrate, not to mention that it is admirable, interesting and worth discussing.
I mean really, using literature as a barometer for the sexual-political climate of the times? What's not to enjoy? Yes, she indulges in close reading, but she does not go overboard and indulge tangents, whims or stray meta ...more
We all know how easy it is to look back and criticize. It is very easy, but to do it eloquently, lucidly, and with the goal of creating a measuring stick for sexual politics is a feat to celebrate, not to mention that it is admirable, interesting and worth discussing.
I mean really, using literature as a barometer for the sexual-political climate of the times? What's not to enjoy? Yes, she indulges in close reading, but she does not go overboard and indulge tangents, whims or stray meta ...more
The misogyny she examines was too much for me to finish the last few chapters. A feminist must-read.
Holy shit, this book was better than I could ever imagine. Kate Millett is a badass super genius.
It is a book that has started the second wave (or third depending which academic you follow) of feminism and as such it has already historical value. It is a fascinating read, even today.
This is a fantastic read both in its remaining relevance to how we are now and as a historical document. With so much negativity in the world, it is enjoyable to reflect on how much has been achieved - I had to keep in mind the position of women in 1960 as I was reading this - but also useful to have some flags as to how progress on women's rights is resisted and dialled back.
It is an academic book but easily accessible. I would say it is far more accessible than de Beauvoir's The Se ...more
It is an academic book but easily accessible. I would say it is far more accessible than de Beauvoir's The Se ...more
This was the book that made me fall back in love with feminism.
Feminism as in "the centuries-long project to improve women's lot", not "what the pink-haired kids are doing these days."
Kate Millett is a rational person who looks at sexual norms and asks "Why?" Do we *really* think Freud's theories were plausible? Do we *really* think Ruskin's romantic ideas of domesticity were accurate? Are we *really* convinced by the sexual mysticism of D.H. Lawrence or Norman Mailer? He ...more
Feminism as in "the centuries-long project to improve women's lot", not "what the pink-haired kids are doing these days."
Kate Millett is a rational person who looks at sexual norms and asks "Why?" Do we *really* think Freud's theories were plausible? Do we *really* think Ruskin's romantic ideas of domesticity were accurate? Are we *really* convinced by the sexual mysticism of D.H. Lawrence or Norman Mailer? He ...more
Millett is a passionate, angry feminist. I'm sure the nature of academia has made her tone her anger down. Nevertheless, her passion and wit still show in her books.
"Sexual Politics" is her masterpiece. In this book, she meticulously dissects misogyny in literary works and debunks myths around patriarchy. Although I haven't read anyone that she criticised, it was a thorough assessment. Her examples provide a clear portrayal about what the works are about, and thanks to this, I felt l ...more
"Sexual Politics" is her masterpiece. In this book, she meticulously dissects misogyny in literary works and debunks myths around patriarchy. Although I haven't read anyone that she criticised, it was a thorough assessment. Her examples provide a clear portrayal about what the works are about, and thanks to this, I felt l ...more
There is always something so depressing about reading key feminist texts from more than four decades ago and realising that we're still dealing with the same old crap. That said, being angered is good, because it expands your mind and your opinions and makes you see things in a clearer light.
I think the main difficulty of this book is that it combines literary commentary with strong feminist theory, meaning that much of the literary content will be of little interest to those reading solely for ...more
I think the main difficulty of this book is that it combines literary commentary with strong feminist theory, meaning that much of the literary content will be of little interest to those reading solely for ...more
Published in 1970, Sexual Politics was the first academic take on feminist literary criticism. The book was based on Millett's PhD dissertation, in which she dissected the work of D. H. Lawrence, Norman Mailer, and Henry Miller, among others. Millett pointed out how the three authors wrote about women in a sexist way. The book added fuel to the second wave of feminism, which had started in the early 60s. The book was controversial, receiving national attention and a strong backlash from men. It
...more
The founding text, or opening salvo, of feminist literary criticism. It's kind of odd to think that forty years ago, this critique of modern authors' blithe (and often quite funny) gender assumptions was new; today it's the universal property of well-read college humanities majors, even if they've never heard of Kate Millett. But it's still a great read.
Wonderful 1970 classic breakdown of male domination through an examination of literature: Mailer, Miller, Freud, Hardy, and more. Essential as an early feminist literary criticism piece correlating the stories that get told and the effects in the real world.
This book is absolutely engaging.
Oh, wow.
I picked up this radical second-wave text in the week after Kate Millett’s death. It’s a wonderful read, ruthlessly smart analysis seasoned generously with snark and anger.
After starting with a small taste of the frank, incisive literary criticism to come, Millett sets forth a little historical context and then aims her pen squarely at the social and psychological establishment’s backlash against the first wave of feminism, which she calls the sexual revolution - the one that culminate ...more
I picked up this radical second-wave text in the week after Kate Millett’s death. It’s a wonderful read, ruthlessly smart analysis seasoned generously with snark and anger.
After starting with a small taste of the frank, incisive literary criticism to come, Millett sets forth a little historical context and then aims her pen squarely at the social and psychological establishment’s backlash against the first wave of feminism, which she calls the sexual revolution - the one that culminate ...more
revealing study of patriarchy, the first wave of feminism, how it affected society, and was reflected in early to mid-twentieth century literature.
a key feminist text.
a key feminist text.
Groundbreaking when it came out, roughly 50 years later it is a great primer to the thoughts of the Second Wave of Feminism. Dated and some of her presumptions were proven right.
This book is a key feminist work, and encourages one to just think of the world through a different lens.
This text is a must read for anyone interested in feminism.
Apr 23, 2008
Louise Colette
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
women-s-studies
If steam isn't coming out of your ears after reading this one, there's no hope for you.
An enlightening overview of the history of women's rights accompanied by an analysis of literary representations of women by male writers.
This is an incredibly thorough, brilliant analysis of how women are viewed by men in life and in literature. It's dense reading, and dark (considering how women are disdained by men), but detailed and fundamental. Millett spends a lot of time excoriating male authors for their gross misogyny, and the only downside is that you have to actually read what these men wrote and try not to vomit. No one hates women like men do.
Most of the Ye Olde Feminist Texts that I read are still entirely relevant in today’s more enlightened times, which is probably the most depressing thing about reading them. We have not gained as much ground as we like to think that we have! We are still fighting a lot of the exact same battles! In fact, in many areas, we are fighting them OVER AGAIN having seemingly won them in the past. Equal rights for women proceed like waves crashing on society’s shore — they just touch and then the underto
...more
Oct 21, 2017
Carlos
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
lgbt-sexuality,
non-fiction
It is rare for me to find that a book lives to all the hype that surrounds it but this book certainly did. I had this book in my list for years as classic of second-wave feminist thought and after finishing it, I am simply blown away by the quality of Millett’s work. This is by far the most thorough and illuminating literary criticism that I have ever read. Millett takes D. H. Lawrence, Henry Miller and Normal Mailer to task for the attitudes towards women that their books and essays demonstrate
...more
An essential book on feminism. Millet's voice is calm and strong, her ideas and criticism well-supported, her writing tidy and neat. This is the best feminist writing I have read so far, both in tone and in form.
She is not trapped in the idea to write it all about woman-history-culture. She chooses a point of view and focuses on it, works on it.
She studies the first wave feminism, sexual revolution in the second half of 19th century. She closely focuses on the post-WWI counter- ...more
She is not trapped in the idea to write it all about woman-history-culture. She chooses a point of view and focuses on it, works on it.
She studies the first wave feminism, sexual revolution in the second half of 19th century. She closely focuses on the post-WWI counter- ...more
I began 'Sexual Politics' as extra unassigned reading for both my English literature and language A levels and it didn't disappoint. This book was highly analytical, precise and eye opening. Millett provides many stunning arguments and theses of which are highly useful in my studies. Not only did it help me come to my own conclusions regarding my specific anthology of poetry and the novels I am studying ('Jane Eyre' and 'Rebecca') but of sex and gender in general. Additionally, I was pleasantly
...more
Deeply scholarly writing that exposed to view aspects our culture that had been well masked where they weren't wholly integrated. This was one truly pot-stirring book when published and it offered the basis for a lot of the change we've had since. Just the same, I'll wager that much of what Millett wrote remains current in the USA.
It isn't a casual read so I'll recommend taking something else on vacation.
It isn't a casual read so I'll recommend taking something else on vacation.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Best of Sexual Awakening with Lady Era | 1 | 2 | Oct 23, 2019 01:51AM | |
| Male Sexual Performance - Being Good in Bed Equals More Male Stamina in the Bedroom | 1 | 1 | Jul 15, 2019 01:06AM | |
| buyonlinesupplementcom/man-plus-us-ca-ie/ | 1 | 1 | Jul 12, 2019 10:39AM | |
| *Must Read* trialix first 2019 | 1 | 1 | Jan 09, 2019 10:26PM | |
| sexual politics | 1 | 18 | Dec 18, 2007 06:46AM |
Readers also enjoyed
Katherine Murray "Kate" Millett was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended Oxford University and was the first American woman to be awarded a postgraduate degree with first-class honors by St. Hilda's. She has been described as "a seminal influence on second-wave feminism", and is best known for her 1970 book Sexual Politics," which was her doctoral dissertation at Columbi
...more
1 trivia question
More quizzes & trivia...
“Patriarchy, reformed or unreformed, is patriarchy still: its worst abuses purged or foresworn, it might actually be more stable and secure than before.”
—
19 likes
“Whatever the “real” differences between the sexes may be, we are not likely to know them until the sexes are treated differently, that is alike.”
—
7 likes
More quotes…
