New Books Network Natacha Chetcuti-Osorovitz and Sara Garbagnoli "La Pensée Wittig: Une Introduction" (Payot, 2025)
Sep 26, 2025
In this enlightening discussion, Sara Garbagnoli, an independent scholar and co-author of La Pensée Wittig, explores the revolutionary ideas of Monique Wittig. She delves into how Wittig’s critiques of heterosexuality challenge contemporary feminism and LGBTQIA+ movements. Garbagnoli highlights Wittig's concept of lesbianism as a means of escape from oppressive structures and discusses the political implications of literature. By situating Wittig historically within feminist movements, she reveals the enduring relevance of Wittig’s theories in today's socio-political landscape.
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Finding Oxygen In Wittig's Work
- Sara Garbagnoli discovered Monique Wittig in her 30s because Wittig's writing "gave [her] oxygen" amid personal suffering as a lesbian.
- Garbagnoli and Natacha wrote their book to honor Wittig's radical thought and its continuing relevance.
Wittig As A Conceptual Paradigm
- "La Pensée Wittig" names both Wittig's thought and a conceptual paradigm that denaturalizes sex, race, and difference.
- The paradigm challenges the "straight mind" that treats social categories as natural facts.
Materialist Feminism Reframes Sex
- Materialist feminism treats women as a social class produced by relations of appropriation, not a biological group.
- It rejects sexual difference and calls for abolishing the sex-class system, not reforming it.
