The Politics of Reality
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| File:The Politics of Reality.jpg | |
| Author | Marilyn Frye |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Feminist theory |
| Publisher | Crossing Press |
Publication date | 1983 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 176 |
| ISBN | 978-0-89594-099-5 |
| OCLC | 9323470 |
The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory is a 1983 collection of feminist essays by philosopher Marilyn Frye. Some of these essays, developed through speeches and lectures she gave, have been quoted and reprinted often, and the book has been described as a "classic" of feminist theory.[1][2]
Summary
Frye outlines several key concepts and fundamental issues for feminist theory in these nine essays.
As a philosopher, Frye grounds her arguments in epistemological questions and moral inquiry. An example, from her introduction, is (p. xii):
What "feminist theory" is about, to a great extent, is just identifying those forces...and displaying the mechanics of their applications to women as a group (or caste) and to individual women. The measure of the success of the theory is just how much sense it makes of what did not make sense before.[3]
In the first essay, "Oppression," she explains a structural vision of oppression. She uses the analogy of a bird cage to explain why many people do not see oppression (p.4-5):
If you look very closely at just one wire in the cage, you cannot see the other wires. If your conception of what is before you is determined by this myopic focus, you could look at that one wire, up and down the length of it, and be unable to see why a bird would not just fly around the wire any time it wanted to go somewhere. ... It is only when you step back, stop looking at the wires one by one, microscopically, and take a macroscopic view of the whole cage, that you can see why the bird does not go anywhere; and then you will see it in a moment.
The vision of oppression is further clarified in the second essay "Sexism," which demonstrates that sexism is a specific form of oppression (p. 33):
Reception
The book has been cited widely by other feminist theorists. For example, Sheila Jeffreys quotes from the introduction in Beauty and Misogyny.[4] In Claudia Card's review of the essays, she praises Frye's clear writing style as well as the essay's progressive contributions to feminist theory. [5]
References
- ↑ Ann Cudd, "Frye, Marilyn (1941- )", Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Thomson Gale, 2006).
- ↑ United States: Marilyn Frye receives Phi Beta Kappa Romanell Award., off our backs, April 1, 2006.
- ↑ Crary, Alice (2007). Beyond Moral Judgement (1st ed.). Harvard University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0674024571.
- ↑ Jeffreys, Sheila (2005). Beauty and Misogyny (1st ed.). Routledge. p. 2. ISBN 1317675444.
- ↑ Card, Claudia (1986). Frye, Marilyn (ed.). "Oppression and Resistance: Frye's Politics of Reality". Hypatia. 1 (1): 149–166. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.1986.tb00526.x. ISSN 0887-5367. JSTOR 3810067. S2CID 145078457.