Toward a Feminist Theory of the State

A work of political and legal theory that gathers and extends arguments MacKinnon developed through the 1980s. Part One sets feminism against Marxism: as work is central to Marxist analysis, sexuality is central to feminist analysis, the place where gender hierarchy is made and eroticised. Part Two defends consciousness raising as feminism's distinctive method, a way of knowing built from women's shared experience. Part Three turns to the state. MacKinnon argues that liberal law is male, not simply because men write it, but because its supposedly neutral, objective standpoint matches men's point of view, so the law sees and treats women the way men see and treat them. She applies this to rape, abortion, pornography and sex-equality law, arguing that equality should mean ending dominance rather than treating likes alike. Critics, including liberal and sex-positive feminists, contest her views on pornography and argue that she generalises about women across differences of race and class.

It is the fullest theoretical statement of the dominance approach to sex equality and a central text of feminist legal theory, useful whether a reader ends up agreeing with it or not.