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Monique Wittig (; 13 July 1935 – 3 January 2003) was a French author, philosopher, and feminist theory "Monique Wittig, 67, Feminist Writer, Dies", by Douglas Martin, January 12, 2003, The New York Times who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract." Her groundbreaking work is titled The Straight Mind and Other Essays. She published her first novel, L'Opoponax, in 1964. Her second novel, Les Guérillères (1969), was a landmark in lesbian feminism.
Wittig earned her PhD from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, after completing a thesis titled "Le Chantier littéraire". "Word by Word Monique Wittig completed The Literary Workshop (Le chantier littéraire) in Gualala, California, in 1986, as her dissertation for the Diplome de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Gérard Genette was the director, and Louis Marin and Christian Metz were readers. Wittig wrote The Literary Workshop at a time of immense productivity..." ; Monique Wittig, Catherine Temerson, Sande Zeig. "The Literary Workshop: An Excerpt", in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies – Volume 13, Number 4, 2007, pp. 543–551 Wittig was a central figure in lesbian and feminist movements in France. In 1971, she was a founding member of the Gouines rouges ("Red Dykes"), the first lesbian group in Paris. She was also involved in the Féministes Révolutionnaires ("Revolutionary feminists"), a radical feminism group. She published various other works, some of which include the 1973 Le Corps lesbien (or The Lesbian Body) and the 1976 Brouillon pour un dictionnaire des amantes (or Lesbian Peoples: Material for a Dictionary), which her partner, Sande Zeig, coauthored.
In 1976, Wittig and Zeig left France due to certain MLF members who sought to "paralyse and destroy lesbian groups." Wittig's attempts to create a lesbian-specific group within the radical branch of the MLF was met with resistance; "they almost succeeded in completely destroying me, and they have, yes, chased me out of Paris". Wittig and Zeig moved to the United States where Wittig focused on developing gender theory. Her works, ranging from the philosophical essay The Straight Mind to parables such as Les Tchiches et les Tchouches, explored the interconnectedness and intersection of lesbianism, feminism, and literary form. With various editorial positions both in France and in the United States, Wittig's works became internationally recognized and were commonly published in both French and English. She continued to work as a visiting professor in various universities across the nation, including the University of California, Berkeley, Vassar College and the University of Arizona in Tucson. She taught a course in materialism through Women's Studies programs, wherein her students were immersed in the process of correcting the American translation of The Lesbian Body. She died of a heart attack on January 3, 2003.
Wittig also emphasized the role of language in shaping reality. She used innovative literary techniques, such as split pronouns (e.g., "j/e" in Le Corps lesbien), to challenge the binary logic of gender and to create new forms of subjectivity.
Wittig was a theorist of materialist feminism. She believed that it is the historical task of feminists to define oppression in materialist terms. It is necessary to make clear that women are a class, and to recognize the category of "woman" as well as the category of "man" as political and economic categories. Wittig acknowledges that these two social classes exist because of the social relationship between men and women. However, women as a class will disappear when man as a class disappears. Just as there are no slaves without masters, there are no women without men.Wittig, Monique. "One Is Not Born a Woman." Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives. Ed. Carole R. McCann and Seung-Kyung Kim. New York: Routledge, 2013. 246–250. Print. The category of sex is the political category that founds society as heterosexual. The category of "man" and "woman" exists only in a heterosexual system, and to destroy the heterosexual system will end the categories of men and women.Wittig, Monique. "The Category of Sex." The Straight Mind and Other Essays. Ed. Monique Wittig. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. 5–8. Print.
Wittig's work has had a significant impact on feminist and queer theory, though her relationship to these fields is complex. While some see her as a precursor to queer theory, others argue that her materialist approach sets her apart from more recent developments in the field.
While Wittig depicted only women in her literature, she abhorred the idea that she was a "women's writer." Monique Wittig called herself a "radical lesbian."
In "Point of View: Universal or Particular?", she states that gender "is the linguistic index of the political opposition between the sexes." Only one gender exists: the feminine, the masculine not being a gender. The masculine is not the masculine but the general, as the masculine experience is normalized over the experience of the feminine. Feminine is the concrete as denoted through sex in language, whereas only the masculine as general is the abstract. Wittig lauds Djuna Barnes and Marcel Proust for universalizing the feminine by making no gendered difference in the way they describe characters. As taking the point of view of a lesbian, Wittig finds it necessary to suppress genders in the same way Djuna Barnes cancels out genders by making them obsolete.Wittig, Monique. "Point of View: Universal or Particular?" The Straight Mind and Other Essays. Ed. Monique Wittig. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. 60–61. Print.
Moreover, for Wittig, the social or gender category "woman" exists only through its relation to the social category "man," and the "women" without relation to "men" would cease to exist, leaving individuals freed from social constructs and categories dictating behavior or norms. She advocated a strong universalism position, saying that the expression of one's identity and the liberation of desire require the abolition of gender categories.
Wittig identified herself as a radical lesbian. In her work The Straight Mind, she argued that lesbians are not women because to be a lesbian is to step outside of the heterosexual norm of women, as defined by men for men's ends.
Wittig also developed a critical view of Marxism which obstructed feminist struggle, but also of feminism itself which does not question the heterosexual dogma.
A theorist of materialist feminism, she stigmatised the myth of "the woman," called heterosexuality a political regime, and outlined the basis for a social contract which lesbians refuse.
Linda Zerilli states that Wittig's work challenges the traditional, male-dominated notions of universalism by deconstructing the heterosexual framework that underpins societal and linguistic structures. Wittig's writings, both theoretical and fictional, advocate for a universal subject that transcends binary categories. While Butler argues against Wittig's reliance on universalism, Zerilli suggests that Wittig's use of universalism is strategic, aimed at exposing the contradictions inherent in traditional notions of the universal subject.
For Teresa de Lauretis, Wittig’s work helped distinguish lesbian theory from feminist theory by conceptualizing lesbians as an "eccentric subject" existing outside the heterosexual framework. She argues that Wittig’s ideas, though sometimes misunderstood – referring especially to Butler – anticipated later developments in queer and Postcolonialism theory. De Lauretis also emphasizes Wittig’s lasting influence, as contemporary gender studies increasingly move beyond fixed identity categories, inadvertently realizing Wittig’s vision.
Brad Epps and Jonathan Katz argue that Wittig’s materialist approach and radical critique remain relevant, particularly in the context of contemporary debates about queer theory and the politics of identity. They also draw parallels between Wittig and the thinkers of the Frankfurt School.
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