The Female Eunuch

An economic system based on the principle of privatizing the means of production and profits gained through privatized labor. In this book, capitalism refers to the market-style economic structures developed during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, particularly as they relate to other sociopolitical structures that developed with capitalism. Greer presents capitalism as a system of oppression that limits women, in part by driving sociocultural developments such as marriage and consumerism.

Traditionally refers to the removal of the testicles, but in The Female Eunuch, Greer uses the term to refer to the metaphorical process of repressing female sexuality to the point that women cannot access it. It represents a psychological concept with physical symbolism to subvert traditional concepts of castration.

A socioeconomic structure that encourages the buying and selling of material goods, typically accomplished through the combination of marketing tactics and increased access to goods. In the context of The Female Eunuch, the pervasive nature of consumerist values and advertising relates to capitalism and the commodification of women as objects.

Also referred to by Greer as the “Eternal Feminine” and the “Stereotype.” These three terms refer to the same notion: a metaphorically castrated woman who cannot access her own (sexual) autonomy. A female eunuch exists to fulfill the sexist notions of what a woman should be according to patriarchal structures that devalue her, and as the object of male desire, she is entirely submissive and infantilized.

The socially mediated construct that differentiates men and women based on their performance of learned social norms. These social norms include acceptable relationships, designated familial or social roles, modes of dress and grooming, and displays of emotion.

A term that broadly refers to ideologies established on the beliefs of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of the Communist Manifesto and other political works. As an ideology, Marxism lacks a unified definition; however, it generally assesses and critiques the development of class structure and the allocation of the means of production as they relate to material wealth. For Greer, Marxism assumes that the means and modes of production directly affect the progression of society; therefore, the capitalist privatization of labor and profit is a major explanatory factor in the codification of sexism because this system grants all authority to men, as they are the only ones who can access privatized realms.

A family structure that includes two parents and their children living in their own isolated dwelling. This dynamic presumes that the parents are heterosexual and married, the father/husband figure is the head of the household, and the wife/mother figure is the primary provider of childcare. The rejection of this familial situation in The Female Eunuch is based on its implementation as the default structure often presented as the only valid type of family in Western societies.

A type of feminist belief that assumes that for society to reach equality, existing socioeconomic structures must be dismantled and reestablished through the lens of equality. This assumption relates to the idea that existing structures were based on traditions that limit women and value men as the superior sex, so to change these existing systems is to proliferate the existing power dynamic. This type of feminism subverts existing practices and norms to achieve a revolutionary outcome of new systems not yet imagined.

The second era of feminism that spans the 1960s through the 1980s. This iteration of feminism maintains the standard feminist beliefs that the sexes should be equals in laws, in social practices, and as individuals. It differs from first-wave feminism because it focuses on more issues, including reproductive and bodily rights, access to equal quality health care and education, and expansion of workplace rights. A key component of this type of feminism is the reclamation of bodily autonomy, particularly relating to menstruation, sexual violence and rape, women’s reproductive health, and dissatisfaction with motherhood.

Discriminatory practices and presumptions based on sex and/or gender disproportionately affecting girls and women. There are many forms of sexist discrimination, including formal or legal exclusion of women, informal social norms that frame women as inferior, and individual actions motivated by sexism.

A broad concept that generally refers to the freeing of women from their status as sexual objects through their reclamation of their sexuality. Sexual liberation is a combination of practices that put a woman in control of her own sexual agency, granting her access to self-determination. It necessitates several components: knowledge of the body and rejection of shame toward normal bodily functions, freedom of choice to accept or reject marriage and motherhood, knowledge of and ability to engage with sexual pleasures without feelings of shame, and the liberation from judgment for exercising these actions.