The major claim of Monique Wittig’s “One is Not Born a Woman” is that identifying women as a natural group allows for their continued oppression. In validating the idea that women are a naturally occurring group that is inherently different from men, a person validates the idea that the oppression of women is justified because there is a natural imbalance of power because women are women and men are men. Wittig encourages the reader to think critically about how their perception and protection of their gender do not defend against an oppressive system but actually support it. Even if one calls themself a feminist and they are actively anti-sexist, by labeling themselves they are just reinvesting in their own subjugation. If you validate your identity as a “woman”, you’re also validating the existence of “man” and admitting that there is a natural difference between the two which Witting believes provides the basis for gendered oppression. To be a true anti-sexist feminist, you must destroy your connection to being a “woman” on the personal level, and accept that you are only a part of the social group of “women”. Wittig makes a distinction between “woman” and “women”. “Woman” is the exclusive, oppressive framework that defines womanhood and provides the basis for the oppression of women and non-men. In identifying as a woman, a person is working to prop up a system that states that a woman and a man are different and justifies the oppression that arises from this difference. Witting explains that “women” are a social group connected not by natural or biological factors, but by their shared oppression. When one vehemently defends their womanhood they are defending the patriarchal definition of womanhood which is oppressive by nature. This sort of desperate protection of “woman” birthed TERFS, SWERFS, and other types of exclusionary feminists. Exclusionary feminism is a protection of the system of patriarchal oppression, not those who suffer under it. Protecting “woman” means that you are not protecting “women.” Divorcing yourself from the idea that you are naturally a man or a woman is not only possible but essential to destroying the patriarchy.
Prior to reading this piece by Wittig and some parts of The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, I had never really considered existentialism as a philosophy outside of casual comments. These two pieces really introduced me to the idea of existentialism.
Wittig, Monique. “One is Not Born a Woman”. The Straight Mind and Other Essays, Beacon Press, 1992.
