Willful Virgin: Essays in Feminism, 1976-1992

by Marilyn Frye

Book by Frye, Marilyn

Genres: Feminism, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Essays, Feminist Theory, Lesbian, Politics

169 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Marilyn Frye is an American philosopher and radical lesbian feminist theorist.

Reviews

[Jude]

so - what does a straight feminist look like? Classic text from one of the clearest and fearless voices of my generation. I actually saw her present the title paper, which is a challenge and a joy - which to my mind are definitive qualities of any brave new world worth considering...
The word 'virgin' did not originally mean a woman who was untouched, but a free woman, one not betrothed, not married, not bound to, not possessed by any man. It meant a female who is sexually and hence socially her own person. In any universe of patriarchy, there are no Virgins in this sense.

[Charlotte]

The title essay on the original meaning of virgin is great. I used this when working with teenage girls who had been sexually abused.

[Lydia]

I read one of Marilyn Frye’s essays for a class and immediately wanted to read more, and i’m really glad I did. I thought this was a great collection of essays, and I felt I could relate to a lot of what she was saying from her background as a white lesbian feminist raised in southern Christianity. I just really enjoyed this read and it gave me a lot to think about. Big fan of her

[Hazel]

I found this book very interesting, but I would like to take some more time to consider my thoughts on it before I post a full review, so I will return to this later.