It is quite possible for a work of literature to operate as a war machine upon its epoch. Monique Wittig More Quotes by Monique Wittig More Quotes From Monique Wittig There was a time when you were not a slave, remember that. You walked alone, full of laughter, you bathed bare-bellied. You say you have lost all recollection of it, remember . . . You say there are no words to describe this time, you say it does not exist. But remember. Make an effort to remember. Or, failing that, invent. Monique Wittig laughterremember-youtime For there is no sex. There is but sex that is oppressed and sex that oppresses. It is oppression that creates sex and not the contrary. Monique Wittig contraryoppressionsex The category of sex is the political category that founds society as heterosexual. Monique Wittig politicalfoundsex Language casts sheaves of reality upon the social body, stamping it and violently shaping it. Monique Wittig languagebodyreality ... I am with fire between my teeth and still nothing but my blank page. Monique Wittig teethpagesfire Frankly, [the definition of woman] is a problem that the lesbians do not have because of a change of perspective. 'Woman' has meaning only in heterosexual systems of thought and heterosexual, economic systems. Lesbians are not women. Monique Wittig perspectivedefinitionsproblem Today, together, let us repeat as our slogan that all trace of violence must disappear from this earth, then the sun will be honey-colored and music good to hear. Monique Wittig earthtogetherpeace The dictionary is, however, only a rough draft. Monique Wittig rough-draftsroughlanguage Not only do we naturalize history, but also consequently we naturalize the social phenomena which express our oppression, making change impossible Monique Wittig making-changesoppressionimpossible A materialist feminist approach to women's oppression destroys the idea that women are a 'natural group' . . . What the analysis accomplishes on the level of ideas, practice makes actual at the level of facts: by its very existence, lesbian society destroys the artificial (social) fact constituting women as a 'natural group.' A lesbian society pragmatically reveals that the division from men of which women have been the object is a political one . . . Monique Wittig practicemenideas men are not born with a faculty for the universal and ... women are not reduced at birth to the particular. The universal has been, and is continually, at every moment, appropriated by men. It does not happen by magic, it must be done. It is an act, a criminal act, perpetrated by one class against another. It is an act carried out at the level of concepts, philosophy, politics. Monique Wittig classmenphilosophy It is oppression that creates sex and not the contrary. The contrary would be to say that sex creates oppression, or to say that the cause (origin) of oppression is to be found in sex itself, in a natural division of the sexes preexisting (or outside of) society. Monique Wittig causeswould-besex The class struggle is precisely that which resolves the contradictions between two opposed classes by abolishing them at the same time that it constitutes and reveals them as classes. Monique Wittig struggleclasstwo I feel a near passion for intelligence at grips with itself and not letting go. Monique Wittig intelligencepassionletting-go The basic agreement between human beings, indeed what makes them human and makes them social, is language. Monique Wittig languagesocialagreement Remember. Or, failing that, invent. Monique Wittig failingremember there is no 'feminine writing' ... and one makes a mistake is using and giving currency to this expression. Monique Wittig expressionmistakewriting The bearers of fables are very welcome. Monique Wittig mythwelcomefables I refuse to pronounce the names of possession and nonpossession. Monique Wittig refusepossessionnames They say that oppression engenders hate. They are heard on all sides crying hate hate. Monique Wittig cryhatesides
