GILLIAN HOWIE is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, UK.

"Howie constructs a genuinely critical feminist theory capable of unifying, dialectically, many of the diverse problems that exercise feminists today. Through a sophisticated, systematic deployment of a philosophically nuanced materialism, Howie defends the senses of 'realism,' 'objectivity,' 'essence,' 'woman,' and 'patriarchy,' which she argues are necessary for the identification of and struggle against the oppression of women. She also convincingly explains the form that oppression often takes by demonstrating the relevance of revivified Marxist categories (reification, commodification, alienation, exploitation), while bending a sometimes-reluctant Adorno into the service of feminism. This book should be read by anyone interested in the relation between feminist theory and politics and confirms Howie as one of the most important feminist materialist thinkers writing in English today." - Stella Sandford, Principal Lecturer in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University London

• Introduction Production Objectivism Reason Essentialism Identity Negativity Sex and Gender Patriarchy Conclusion