Subjectivity Without Sex? The Materialist Trans Feminist Potential in Monique Wittig’s Non-Fiction

Abstract

In proposing that the categories of sex must be transcended, Monique Wittig’s non-fiction is ripe with trans feminist potential. Yet her arguments are beset by a paradox. On the one hand, ‘male’ and ‘female’ are presented as purely relational categories with no fixed content. On the other, the category of ‘man’ is essentialized as possessing a uniquely oppressive consciousness which no ‘woman’ can achieve. After exploring Wittig’s insurrectory ‘lesbian’ as a category of subjectivity without sex, this article highlights the implicit racism and transition phobia animating Wittig’s representation of sex difference and raises broader concerns about radical feminist projects of gender abolition