''The Straight Mind and Other Essays'' is a 1992 collection of essays by

Monique Wittig Monique Wittig (; 13 July 1935 – 3 January 2003) was a French author, philosopher, and feminist theorist who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract." Her groundbreaking work is titled '' The ...

. The collection was translated into French as ''La pensée straight'' in 2001. The title essay, "The Straight Mind", was delivered to the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "str ...

annual convention in 1978, and makes reference to ''

The Savage Mind ''The Savage Mind'' (), also translated as ''Wild Thought'', is a 1962 work of structural anthropology by the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss. Summary "The Savage Mind" Lévi-Strauss makes clear that "''la pensée sauvage''" refers not ...

'' by

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss ( ; ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair o ...

Summary

The foreword by

Louise Turcotte Louise most commonly refers to: * Louise (given name) Louise or Luise may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Songs * Louise (Maurice Chevalier song), "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 * "Louise", by The Yardbirds from the album ''Five ...

underscores Wittig’s profound impact on feminist theory, literature, and politics. Turcotte contrasts Wittig's radical lesbianism with

lesbian separatism Feminist separatism or separatist feminism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's sex segregation from men.Christine Skelton, Becky Francis, ''Feminism and the Schooling Scandal'', Taylor & Francis, ...

and calls the term

compulsory heterosexuality Compulsory heterosexuality, often shortened to comphet, is the theory that heterosexuality is assumed and enforced upon people by a patriarchal, allonormative, and heteronormative society. The term was popularized by Adrienne Rich in her 1980 ...

redundant. The first essay of the collection is "The Category of Sex". Wittig argues that the categories of "male" and "female" serve to mask the economic, political, and ideological power imbalances between men and women. She contends that oppression precedes and creates the idea of a biological sex, not the other way around, and that heterosexuality enforces women's subjugation through mechanisms like marriage, domestic labor, and forced reproduction. Wittig then calls for the abolition of the category of sex. "One Is Not Born a Woman", delivered in September 1979 at the "30th Anniversary Conference of the Second Sex" held at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, takes up the outcomes of

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

's feminist political visions for lesbians. Wittig critiques the "myth of womanhood" and emphasizes the need for women to recognize themselves as a class, resist their programmed roles, and forge individual subjectivity beyond the constraints of sex categories. Moreover, she compares lesbians to fugitive slaves. "The Straight Mind" was delivered as the morning keynote address at

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

's event, "The Scholar and the Feminist Conference, The Future of Difference". Wittig writes "lesbians are not women" under the assumption that the term "woman" is defined by men. The essay appeared in French in ''

Questions féministes A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammatical forms, typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are interrogat ...

'', where the editorial collective, which included Wittig, splintered over "the lesbian question" leading to a dissolution of the collective and end to the publication. It also appeared in English in ''Feminist Issues''. "The Trojan Horse" explains her theory of literature as a "war machine", echoing

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...

Reception

In her review of the collection, Rosemary Hennessy highlights Wittig’s

materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materia ...

critique of heterosexuality as a political regime. Hennessy contrasts Wittig’s approach with that of

queer theory Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies (formerly often known as gay and lesbian studies) and women's studies. The term "queer theory" is broadly associated with the study a ...

, arguing that while both challenge

identity politics Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, Race (human categorization), race, nationality, religion, Religious denomination, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, Socioeconomic status, social background ...

and the notion of stable sexual identities, queer theory primarily engages with sexuality as a discursive construct, often neglecting the broader materialist and structural dimensions of oppression. Wittig, on the other hand, emphasizes how heterosexuality is not just a cultural discourse but a system of power and economic exploitation tied to

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

and

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

References

1992 non-fiction books Beacon Press books Books by Monique Wittig French essay collections Lesbian feminist books Lesbian non-fiction books Radical feminist books 1990s LGBTQ literature {{Radical feminism