The Big Mac attack: a critical affirmation of MacKinnon's unmodified theory of patriarchal power.

• Author: Dobrowolsky, Alexandra Z.
• Position: Catharine MacKinnon

Introduction

For several years now, Catharine MacKinnon has impressed and inspired us in that she has consistently and eloquently articulated much of what we felt and feared: that the condition of women in North American society is intolerable; that the state, because of its acts and omissions, is complicitous in the enforced inequality of women; and that law, more often than not, has been part of the problem rather than part of the solution. However, despite our broad agreement with the general direction of MacKinnon's analysis throughout this period, we each have had, in our own different ways, a sense of discomfort, an inchoate feeling that something was amiss. Yet, we found it difficult to focus and express this dis-ease. Then, as we, from our diverse perspectives, discussed MacKinnon's most recent book, Toward A Feminist Theory of the State (1) we began to come to terms with our disquiet, to identify, define and delineate our concerns. The result of these conversations is this collaborative essay which, in the words of Cornell West and bell hooks, aspires to be a "critical affirmation" (2) of MacKinnon's enterprise.

Our note consists of four parts. Part I presents a brief introduction to the main elements and themes of MacKinnon's argument, particularly as they are synthesized and developed in Toward a Feminist Theory of the State. Part II engages in a critique of what we consider to be the simultaneously under and over-inclusive nature of MacKinnon's theory and tentatively offers some remedial suggestions. Through an analysis of MacKinnon's conception of consciousness raising, Part III highlights an internal incoherence that exemplifies the problems we identify in Part II. Finally, Part IV, in the spirit of contextualism, sheds some further light on the perspectives which lay the foundations for our concerns.

1. MacKinnon's Project

   In writing the book, Toward A Feminist Theory of the State, Catharine MacKinnon sets herself a daunting task: to formulate a feminist theory of power; power that is omnipotent and omnipresent; power that fuels law, state and society as we know it; power that is, simply and overwhelmingly, male power. In her preface, MacKinnon's aim is starkly and boldly stated. She writes, this book "is about what is, the meaning of what is, and the way what is, is enforced." (3) For MacKinnon, "what is" is a society constituted and scarred by male domination and female subordination through sexuality and gender. This situation is sanctioned and promoted by both state and laws as they legitimate and disseminate male power.

   The book is a response to what MacKinnon suggests is feminism's failure to articulate a theory of socio-politico-legal power. To say that hers is an ambitious endeavour is an understatement. MacKinnon deserves admiration and respect for taking on this formidable responsibility which can be seen as both onerous and potentially inspiring, especially given that the final product is perspicacious, impressive and praiseworthy. Toward a Feminist Theory of the State is a book full of valuable MacKinnonesque insights and analyses. The author has an enviable writing style, (4) one that combines rigorous evaluation with biting irony, caustic cynicism and a healthy disrespect for the academic enterprise. By and large, MacKinnon's themes are well developed and integrated and her reconceptionalizations and recategorizations of old debates are particularly illuminating. The result is compelling reading and innovative arguments that paint a grim picture of an inequitable, unjust society in which male dominance is institutionalized and female inequality is entrenched. Toward a Feminist Theory of the State will never allow readers to think about the world in quite the same way again. It is, in itself, a mode of consciousness raising.

   It is, of course, impossible to do justice to the depth and sophistication of MacKinnon's analysis in a note. Therefore, in this part, we shall briefly highlight what we consider to be some of the crucial elements of her argument, concentrating on those which we will further pursue in Parts III and IV.

   Toward A Feminist Theory, of the State is divided into three sections which correspond to MacKinnon's three central inquiries into I) Feminism and Marxism, II) Method, and III) The State (and Law). The sections are interrelated, and each section works as a building block to the next.

   In Section I, MacKinnon addresses the problem of marxism and feminism through commentary on Marx and Engels, through what she calls a marxist critique of feminism and through an examination of attempts at synthesizing the two. According to MacKinnon, marxism and feminism are both theories of power, but the two have separate histories, and that which is pivotal to the former, work, is distinct from that which is fundamental to the latter, sexuality. As a consequence of these differences, marxism initially did not adequately address feminist concerns. Later efforts at synthesis were not successful and, MacKinnon argues, will never be successful if they continue to ignore the centrality of sexual violence perpetrated by men against women. The only approach that has come close is that of the "wages for housework" theory, but close only counts in horseshoes, and so even this does not go far enough for MacKinnon.

   Significantly, Chapter three's title, "A Marxist Critique of Feminism," is misleading, given its actual content. The chapter does not venture into the intricacies of marxist philosophy in an attempt to study the marxist interpretation of feminism. Rather, it largely pertains to MacKinnon's criticism of what, ostensibly, appears to be classical, liberal feminism beginning with John Stuart Mill, and then the chapter develops into an appraisal of various feminists from Simone de Beauvoir and Carol Gilligan to Nancy Chodorow and Susan Brownmiller. Chapter three, therefore, contains important insights into MacKinnon's philosophical stance which we shall return to later.

   The second section, Method, presents the crux of MacKinnon's meaningful, thought-provoking, and controversial theorizing. This section moves from a discussion of consciousness raising, to an adumbration of MacKinnon's feminist project with her views on power and her analysis of sexuality.

   Through the process of consciousness raising, MacKinnon explains that women move beyond ideas to practice by obtaining "a lived knowing of the social reality of being female." (5) For MacKinnon, race, class, and or physiology may define one woman from another, but, nevertheless, "simply being a woman has a meaning that decisively defines all women socially, from their most intimate moments to their most anonymous relations." (6) The crucial realizations emerging from consciousness raising, in MacKinnon's estimation, are that men possess the power to dominate women, or to choose not to and that they as a group benefit from women's subordination. (7)

   In Chapters 6 and 7, MacKinnon addresses what she terms feminist method as she deals with the issues of power and sexuality. These discussions, we suggest, lie at the heart of her theory and are pivotal to an understanding of her analysis. She writes:

   Feminism has a theory of power: sexuality is gendered as gender is sexualized. Male and female are created through the eroticization of dominance and submission. The man/woman difference and the dominance/submission dynamic define each other. This is the social meaning of sex and the distinctively feminist account of gender inequality. Sexual objectification, the central process within this dynamic is at once epistemological and political. (8) MacKinnon offers a three-step, cumulative analysis. First and foremost, male power is fundamental. Second, filtered through this prism of male power, sexuality must be understood as neither natural, nor biological, but as a social construct of male power. (9) Third, gender as a social construction is forged and formatted by this hierarchicalized sexuality. Thus, gender relates backward to sexuality and then to power. (10) As an illustration, MacKinnon lists a series of stereotypically female personality traits and traces them back to sexuality. For instance, female passivity and frailty translate into women's inability to resist sexual advances, (11) which structurally and ideologically dovetail with male desire to control and have access to women. She encapsulates her theory in these terms: "Male dominance is sexual. Meaning: men in particular, if not men alone, sexualize hierarchy; gender is one." (12) MacKinnon contends that this feminist theory of sexuality becomes its theory of politics. (13) She writes:

   what is called sexuality is the dynamic of control by which male dominance--in forms that range from intimate to institutional, from a look to a rape--eroticizes and thus defines man and woman, gender identity and sexual pleasure. It is also that which maintains and defines male supremacy as a political system. (14) In the final section of the book, The State, MacKinnon applies and concretizes her theory by means of an analysis of the patriarchal liberal state, and hones in on the issues of rape, abortion and pornography. Her penultimate chapter responds to the difference/dominance debate. The book closes with MacKinnon's articulation of the premises and ambitions of a radical feminist jurisprudence, that is, feminism unmodified.

   MacKinnon claims that feminism has not confronted the problem of the liberal state. She argues that the state must be seen for what it is, "male jurisprudentially, meaning that it adopts the standpoint of male power on the relation between law and society." (15) MacKinnon leaves no measure of doubt when she writes that the liberal state "is not autonomous of sex. Male power is systemic. Coercive, legitimated, epistemic, it is the regime." (16) MacKinnon discusses rape, abortion and pornography, in terms of her feminist method. Accordingly, laws relating to all...