1935 – 2003
Monique Wittig (1935–2003) was a French materialist feminist theorist and novelist whose work challenged the naturalization of sex and gender categories. She argued that 'woman' is not a biological fact but a political class produced by heterosexual social relations, and famously claimed that lesbians are not women in the political sense. Her theoretical essays, collected in The Straight Mind (1992), were foundational to both materialist feminism and early queer theory.
Argued that 'woman' is a political category, not a natural or biological one
Developed a materialist feminist account of sex as a social class relation
Advanced the thesis that heterosexuality is a political regime, not a natural institution
Authored Les Guérillères (1969), a landmark experimental feminist novel
Influenced the development of queer theory through her deconstruction of gender and sexuality