Globalisation and the Male/Female Divide: An Overview

Who made Adam Smith’s dinner? Feminist critiques of the lnternational Political Economy Feminist economic theorists throw the basis of traditional economic thinking, the idea of rational economic man, into doubt. Traditional economics is based upon two main patriarchal assumptions. It is based upon the way in which men in western societies, and in their institutions […]


The Eroticism of (In)Equality

In this paper, presented at the ‘One is not born a woman’ conference, celebrating 50th anniversary of Simone de Beauvoir’s Second Sex organised by Fruaenmediaturm at Cologne, 22-24 October, 1999, Sheila Jeffreys argues that a massive obstacle to women’s equality lies in the way in which sex under male supremacy is constructed out of the […]


Enforcing Men’s Sexual Rights in International Human Rights Law – June 2018

Sex industry image

Why International? Talk given at We Need to Talk, June 2018 “I am going to talk today about why it is important to think internationally when dealing with the threat posed by men’s crossdressing activism (commonly called the transgender rights movement) to women’s human rights. In the UK the feminist resistance has been growing exponentially […]


So, why do we pander to the beauty industry again? 17 August 2017

Image of woman in high heels

High Heels, Low Status As a feminist who argues that beauty practices are harmful to women’s equality, I have been accused of being a killjoy who spoils the fun women get from crippling shoes, depilation, revealing clothing, makeup, figure-hugging dresses and short skirts. But the wearing of high heels, for instance, is not just a harmless […]


Let us be free to debate transgenderism without being accused of ‘hate speech’ – May 2012

Researchers and theorists who question the practice of transgenderism are subjected to campaigns of intimidation Criticism of the practice of transgenderism is being censored as a result of a campaign of vilification by transgender activists of anyone who does not accept the new orthodoxy on this issue. A recent Comment is free piece by the transgender activist […]


Eugenics and the practice of transgendering children – November 2011

Child image

“The practice of eugenics is returning to contemporary Australia in the treatment of transgendered children. With the cooperation of the Family Court, children as young as ten are being put on puberty delaying drugs after being diagnosed with “gender identity disorder” or “gender dysphoria”. There is the expectation that they will be moved onto cross-sex hormones at […]


Queer theory and violence against women – March 2004

Fist image

“I want to talk about how queer and ‘postmodern’ theory has affected the ability of feminists and lesbians to organise against, or even to recognise violence against women. In queer and postmodern theory, based on liberal individualism, important forms of violence are renamed ‘transgression’, ‘choice’ or ‘agency’. I shall concentrate on 3 forms of violence here, men’s prostitution […]


Why has the Big O seduced so many feminists? May 1996

Sex industry image

“The November/December 1995 issue of Ms., cover-lined HOT UNSCRIPTED SEX, showed a close-up of an African American woman licking her lipsticked lips. Despite all the feminist work that has been done in the last quarter-century to critique and challenge the male-supremacist construction of sex, none of the four articles inside made connections to the whole […]