The Man Question: Visions of Subjectivity in Feminist Theory

by Kathy E. Ferguson

Turning on its head that familiar "woman question," this innovative work poses masculinity as a problem that requires explanation. Ferguson rebukes the sense of coherence contained in patriarchal theory in the name of a voice that both calls upon and challenges the category woman . Stepping back from the opposition of male and female, she artfully loosens the hold of gender on life and meaning, creating and at the same time deconstructing a women's point of view. Posing the "man question" provides a way not only to view male power and female subordination but also to valorize and problematize women's experiences, thus destabilizing conventional notions of man and woman .

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 1993

Reviews

[Quin Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Underwhelming. Ferguson maps three broad genres of feminist theory and considers the relative merits and weaknesses of each. She then theorizes a concept of “mobile subjectivities” as a way to productively negotiate between these in the service of effective coalition politics.

Overall, this book is frustrating and dated. It is clear that Ferguson wants to maintain the tensions between various genres of feminist theory because she views these as “productive.” But given my Marxist sympathies and especially coming hot off the heels of reading Teresa Ebert’s excellent “Ludic Feminism and After,” I cannot take Ferguson’s insistence on incommensurability and discontinuity too seriously. I think she seriously undersells what she calls “praxis feminism” in order to defend the necessity of what she calls “linguistic feminism.” Most of what she claims as the strengths of linguistic feminism are things a rigorous historical materialist feminism can do on its own. More generally, this book has confirmed for me the general unhelpfulness of the entire category Ferguson calls “linguistic feminism” for theorizing society and social change.

If you are interested in the kinds of metaquestions Ferguson asks about feminist theory, Ebert’s “Ludic Feminism and After” is a much better starting place. If you are intrigued by “mobile subjectivities,” Chela Sandoval’s “Methodology of the Oppressed” offers a superior formulation. And Ferguson’s own earlier “The Feminist Case Against Bureaucracy” is a fantastic and still urgently relevant text in its own right. But this one can be missed without losing out on much.

[Cambra · Rating 3 out of 5]

IRONY.