Politics of Reality includes nine essays that examine sexism, the exploitation of women, the gay rights movement and other topics from a feminist perspective. -/- The essays "The Problem That Has No Name" and "A Note On Anger" have been translated into Spanish by Maria Lugones for circulation in la Asociacion Argentina de Mujeres en Filosofia.

"A Note On Anger," in The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (Trumansburg, NY: The Crossing Press, 1983), has been translated into Spanish by Maria Lugones for circulation in la Asociacion Argentina de Mujeres en Filosofia. See the links below for the original book.

"White Woman Feminist," keynote address, New Jersey Project Conference, Rutgers University, May 30, 1992.

The common theme in this collection is rejection of assimilation, an embrace of boundary living, and a commitment to women's invention of women at and beyond the limits of patriarchy.

The category WOMEN is a central analytic category of feminism, but has been very troubled in feminist theory and philosophy. In the background of the troubles with the category WOMEN is the metaphoric image of a social category as a set and its exemplars as set members. But the category WOMEN cannot be defined as sets are defined, so that is an inappropriate metaphor. A number of feminists and race theorists turn to Wittgenstein, who offers alternative metaphors. This chapter explores (...) the powers and resonances of his metaphors—in the case of “family resemblance,” using the work of cognitive psychologists Rosch and Mervis on categories that have prototype structure. (shrink)

Reprinted in French translation in the French feminist journal Vlasta, Fall (1984); in German translation in Beiträge zur Feministischen Theorie und Praxis 25 (1989); and in Swedish translation in Aktuell kvinnolitterature och Kultur 5 (3) (1991).

The three notions of illocutionary force, sentence-meaning, and speaker-meaning (what a speaker means by an utterance) have been bandied about, misused and confused in some influential papers about speech acts and, I presume, in quieter corners as well. My object here is to disentangle these notions.

"Do You Have To Be A Lesbian To Be A Feminist?" Plenary session speech at the conference of the National Women's Studies Association, June 1990.

"Categories in Distress," given as one of two Hanna Lectures at Hamline University, April 22, 1999. A revision of this lecture was given at the meeting of the Midwest Division of the Society for Women in Philosophy, Fall 1999.

"The Problem That Has No Name," in The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (Trumansburg, NY: The Crossing Press, 1983), has been translated into Spanish by Maria Lugones for circulation in la Asociacion Argentina de Mujeres en Filosofia. See the links below for the original book.

"Intra-feminist Critique: Modes of Disengagement," invited participant on a panel on intrafeminist critique, sponsored by the Society for Women in Philosophy, at the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association Meetings, March 2001.

Images of species, sets, and containers, combined with an obsolete positivist theory of meaning and a curiously illogical interpretation of a structuralist understanding of meaning, together have driven feminists and their critics to find unavoidable essentialism and binary totalism in feminist theorists' use of the category WOMEN. This paper explores an enriched imagination for how categories can be structured internally and in relations to other categories, and proposes that we need to think categories simultaneously through multiple and mixed metaphors, including (...) the metaphors of a spun thread and family resemblance, and the image of correlational densities in multidimensional quality spaces. (shrink)

In this paper I present a sorting and accounting of a variety of things which fall or might fall under the rubric "saying something." The object is clarification--the illumination of an area which can be a source of much confusion in discussion and analysis of speech acts. The point of departure is Austin's initial analysis of saying, in which he tries to set out the "acts" or "doings" which are supposed to be in some sense the elements of the total (...) act of saying. From this, I develop an analysis of saying which may be seen either as an improved version of Austin's or as an alternative analysis, depending on one's assessment of the significance of its departure from Austin's initial intent or insight. I am inclined to see it as an alternative, though hardly a radical one. (shrink)

Lesbian Ethics seems to address a need for an alternative to heteropatriarchal ethics. That need appears to have two suspect sources: a concept of agency which requires that agents know what is right; and a notion women may have that by being "good" we can escape the degraded status of females and achieve a status of citizeness, or honorary male. Instead of providing such an ethic, the book may show us how to live without it.

Reprinted in German translation as "Lesbische Perspektiven in bezug auf Women's Studies" in Renate Duelli-Klein, Maresi Nerad & Sigrid Metz-Göckel (eds.), Feministische Wissenschaft und Frauenstudium. Hamburg, Germany: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Hochschuldidaktik. pp. 303-310. (1982).

This essay is adapted from Frye, Marilyn (1983). "In and Out of Harm's Way: Arrogance and Love." In The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory. Trumansburg, NY: The Crossing Press. pp. 52-83. (For more details on The Politics of Reality, see the PhilPapers link below.).

Marilyn Frye is a noted philosopher and feminist theorist whose works include The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory and Willful Virgin: Essays in Feminism as well as various other essays and articles. Frye recently retired from teaching philosophy at Michigan State University. On February 26, 2013, the Stance staff met with Marilyn Frye to talk about her work, her life, and the status of women in the field of philosophy.

"The Necessity of Differences," a paper delivered as the Linda Singer Memorial Lecture at Miami University of Ohio, February 1994, and in a revised version, at the meeting of the Society for Women in Philosophy, Midwestern Division, Minneapolis, April 1994. A talk from this paper on a panel on "Feminist Community," sponsored by the Committee on the Status of Women at the May 1994 meetings of the American Philosophical Association, Central Division. A version of this material was delivered as the (...) Austin-Hempel Lecture at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, March 1996. (shrink)

The French translation of Frye, Marilyn (1978). Some Reflections on Separatism and Power. Sinister Wisdom 6:30-39. See the links below for the original article.

The German translation of Frye, Marilyn (1980). Lesbian Perspectives on Women's Studies. Sinister Wisdom 14:3-7. See the links below for the original article.

Encyclopedia entry. Explains "dichotomous," "binary," "absolute opposite," and "polar opposite" as applied to social categories, explaining feminist critical concerns about gender categories. Not all categorizing is dichotomous or binary. Gender categories may function as binary or dichotomous in some contexts but not in others.

Phi Beta Kappa Romanell Lectures, given at Michigan State University, February 2008.

Keynote speech for the joint conference of the Michigan Women's Studies Association and the Great Lakes Women's Studies Association, in East Lansing, Michigan, April 20-21, 1980.

"Andrea Dworkin's Knowledge Strategies," a talk given at a symposium in memory of Andrea Dworkin, at Michigan State University, February 2006.

Comment on "Patients' Rights: Ethical Questions" by Kate Millett, at The Michigan Psychoanalytic Council, February 15, 1992, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

"Essentialism," an invited paper at the meetings of the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association, April 2001.

"Is Woman a Family-resemblance Category?" a paper delivered to the Philosophy Department of Duke University, April 1998.

"Ontology and Politics," in the conference "Thinking, Writing, Teaching, and Creating Social Justice," April 1994, presented as the conclusion of the Rockefeller Scholar-in-Residence program of the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota.

"Relief. Some Un-theory of Categories," given as one of two Hanna Lectures at Hamline University, April 22, 1999.

"Response to 'Ecological Thinking' by Lorraine Code," an invited response to an invited paper on the program of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association, December 2002.