The Politics of Reality

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]

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):

Oppression is a system of interrelated barriers and forces which reduce, immobilize and mold people who belong to a certain group, and effect their subordination to another group (individually to individuals of the other group, and as a group, to that group).

El tercer ensayo se titula "El problema que no tiene nombre" (p.  41). El cuarto ensayo se titula "Dentro y fuera del peligro: arrogancia y amor" (p.  52). El quinto ensayo se titula "Una nota sobre la ira". El sexto ensayo se titula "Algunas reflexiones sobre el separatismo y el poder" y es una justificación para un espacio separado para los grupos oprimidos (p.  84). El séptimo ensayo se titula "Sobre ser blanca: hacia una comprensión feminista de la raza y la supremacía racial" y es un ejemplo de una filósofa feminista lesbiana radical que habla sobre el proceso de analizar sus propias actitudes sobre el racismo y cómo eso encaja dentro del feminismo (p.  110). El octavo ensayo se titula "Feminismo lésbico y el movimiento por los derechos de los homosexuales: otra visión de la supremacía masculina, otro separatismo" (p.  128). El noveno ensayo se titula "Ser y ser visto: la política de la realidad" (p.  152).

El libro ha sido ampliamente citado por otras teóricas feministas. Por ejemplo, Sheila Jeffreys cita la introducción en Belleza y misoginia . ^{[ 4 ]}

En su reseña de los ensayos, Claudia Card elogia el estilo de escritura claro de Frye, así como las contribuciones progresistas del ensayo a la teoría feminista. ^{[ 5 ]}