Dialectic of Sex

By Shulamith Firestone

• Undo the Nuclear family

• There is a lack of speculative model making for the imagination for what the world could look like with these alternative ideas in mind.

• Idea of establishing the household instead of raising children

• We should automate children making, but it shouldn’t just be women doing this

  • make kids in a lab setting

  • with no parents, they can choose their parents in age and lifestyle

  • abolish blood relations, only based on love

• Questioning what is seen as “Natural”

• Unless women can go beyond this limit of parenthood, it will be hard for women to be free

Biologically Culturally
Distinguishing Distinguishing

- Child-bearing - “Human”
- “Women”/Passivity - Activity
- “Animal” - Autonomous → freedom

• Firestone wants to move the child-bearing role from the sphere of biological to the sphere of culture

  • Daycares won’t work because its temporary and only takes place in the realm of culture

• Technologies can take what is biological and move it to cultural

• Women seen as a tool to repopulate humanity

  • The fact that they’re biologically distinguished creates this divied