Catharine MacKinnon: Feminism and the State

Catharine MacKinnon is a lightning rod. Widely celebrated for her pathbreaking legal work that transformed how we understand, and prosecute, workplace sexual harassment, and roundly disparaged for her hardline anti-pornography and anti-prostitution positions in the so-called feminist sex wars of the 1980s, MacKinnon’s work continues to incite debate—perhaps no book more so than Toward a Feminist Theory of the State. In it, MacKinnon proposes a theory of gender rooted in the sexual subordination of women that, writ large, becomes a theory of legal and political exploitation founded on sex-based hierarchy. Why did MacKinnon see such a theory as necessary to feminist politics? What kind of feminist practice does such a theory entail? And what objections have feminist critics raised—to MacKinnon’s vision of gender as sexual dominance? To her elision of the differentiating factors of race and class in feminist theory and practice?

In this course, we will read Toward a Feminist Theory of the State, situating the text, first published in 1989, alongside more recent commentaries on MacKinnon’s thought and legacy. What, for MacKinnon, are the basic elements of a feminist theory of the state? How can we understand, in legal and political terms, the relationship between sex, gender, desire, and domination? In taking up these questions, we will consider MacKinnon’s theory of sexual dominance (as distinct from a theory of sexual difference); her account of consciousness-raising as feminist method; and her complicated relationship to Marxism and Marxist-feminism, as well as to liberalism and the law. Throughout, we will examine MacKinnon’s theoretical work as applied to issues like abortion and pornography: how persuasive are her arguments today, when so much has changed and yet these issues remain at the forefront of our politics? How can we come to terms with renewed interest in MacKinnon’s work today—both its promises and its potential pitfalls?

Course Schedule

Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
November 14 — December 12, 2024
4 sessions over 5 weeks
Class will not meet Thursday, November 28th.

$335.00

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