HETEROSEXUALITY - A MATERIALIST FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE IN RECENT DEBATES

In the past few years there has been a resurgence of the debate on het erosexualiy among British feminists, raising once more the question of how heterosexual feminists reconcile their feminist politics with the ir sexual practive. This article was written in response to these deba tes; as an attempt to develop a critical perspective on heterosexualit y which avoids casting heterosexual feminists as either victims or col laborators. It takes as its starting point the materialist feminist pe rspective on gender developed by French theorists such as Christine De lphy, arguing that this standpoint provides a strong foundation for an alysing the institution, identity, experience and practice of heterose xuality. From this perspective gender and sexual categories as social constructs are products of material, hierarchical social relations. He terosexuality should be analysed as a patriarchal institution, but we should avoid conflating the institution with practice and experience o f heterosexuality and should not view sexuality as the sole site of wo men's subordination.