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The Spectral Woman: Transfemininity and the Abolition of Gender
'Cremin explores the relationship between theory and life with intelligence and wit' - Juliet Jacques, author of A Memoir
What if the feminine holds the power to undo the foundations of domination itself? In The Spectral Woman, the feminine is revealed as the negative force capable of abolishing the rigid categories of sex and gender that sustain class exploitation, androcentrism, and repression. With bold, incisive arguments, this book explores the transformative potential of feminine jouissance—a force that unsettles identity thinking and offers a radical path toward emancipation.
Rejecting the myths of diversity, difference, and escapist individualism, Ciara Cremin confronts the illusions of liberal humanism and the sacrifices demanded in the name of progress. Instead, it argues for a utopian feminine praxis that challenges the psychic impairments perpetuated by capitalist, colonial, and patriarchal systems.
In a world haunted by the spectre of the trans-feminine figure, this work sheds light on the profound potential to decolonise the unconscious and reimagine a future beyond oppression. The Spectral Woman is a bold manifesto for those willing to interrogate the structures that bind us—and envision their abolition.
What if the feminine holds the power to undo the foundations of domination itself? In The Spectral Woman, the feminine is revealed as the negative force capable of abolishing the rigid categories of sex and gender that sustain class exploitation, androcentrism, and repression. With bold, incisive arguments, this book explores the transformative potential of feminine jouissance—a force that unsettles identity thinking and offers a radical path toward emancipation.
Rejecting the myths of diversity, difference, and escapist individualism, Ciara Cremin confronts the illusions of liberal humanism and the sacrifices demanded in the name of progress. Instead, it argues for a utopian feminine praxis that challenges the psychic impairments perpetuated by capitalist, colonial, and patriarchal systems.
In a world haunted by the spectre of the trans-feminine figure, this work sheds light on the profound potential to decolonise the unconscious and reimagine a future beyond oppression. The Spectral Woman is a bold manifesto for those willing to interrogate the structures that bind us—and envision their abolition.
304 pages, Paperback
Published October 20, 2025
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About the author
Ciara Cremin
17 books8 followersDr Ciara Cremin is a senior lecturer of sociology at the University of Auckland. Her work spans a range of topics from Marxism, to video games, to feminism and gender studies, through the lens of Critical Theory (which aims to explain social problems as symptoms of existing social structures and cultural biases, rather than from individuals alone).
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October 25, 2025
Having a lecturer whose content exceeds a single course or even teaching as a whole is a real gift, and to have it be as well-written, humorous, and novel as this is beyond what I could've expected from academia that is so often disconnected.
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