Summary of “Sexual Politics” by Kate Millett

The Core Argument: Politics of Sex

Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics, published in 1969, is a landmark work of second-wave feminism. The book’s central argument is that “sex has a frequently overlooked political aspect.” Millett defines “politics” not just as elections or legislatures, but as power-structured relationships where one group dominates another. She argues that the relationship between men and women is a political relationship of dominance and submission. This system of male rule over women is called patriarchy.

Patriarchy, according to Millett, is not natural or biological. It is a socially conditioned belief system that masquerades as nature. Society teaches that male dominance is inevitable, but it is actually maintained by force, socialization, and ideology.

The Three Pillars of Patriarchy

Millett explains that patriarchy maintains itself through three main methods:

1. Ideology: Society constantly reinforces the belief that men are superior and women are naturally suited for domestic roles. Religion, science, law, and popular culture all spread this message.

2. Force: The threat of physical violence (rape, beatings, war) keeps women subordinate. While not always used, this threat underpins the system.

3. Socialization: From birth, boys and girls are trained differently. Boys learn ambition and aggression; girls learn passivity and service. This internalized training makes women accept their lower status as “natural.”

Part One: The Historical Roots

Millett begins by tracing the history of the sexual revolution. She notes that between 1830 and 1930, significant gains were made: women won property rights, access to education, and eventually the vote. However, she argues that a “counter-revolution” occurred after 1930, which rolled back many of these gains. This counter-revolution was led by political conservatives and, surprisingly, by some male “experts” in psychology and literature.

Part Two: Attacking the Literary Canon

The most famous and shocking part of Sexual Politics is Millett’s literary criticism. She takes four highly respected male authors—D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, and Jean Genet—and analyzes their portrayal of women.

• D.H. Lawrence: Millett argues that Lawrence, despite being seen as a liberator of sexuality, actually promoted male dominance. In his novels (like Lady Chatterley’s Lover), women find fulfillment only through complete submission to the phallic power of men. The sexual act is portrayed as a conquest where the woman must surrender her will.

• Henry Miller: Millett attacks Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and other works for their blatant misogyny. She describes his writing as full of hatred and contempt for women, reducing them to mere body parts and sexual objects for male use. Women exist only as vaginas or whores in his work.

• Norman Mailer: Mailer is criticized for his romanticization of male violence and dominance. Millett points to his novel An American Dream as a prime example, where the hero kills his wife and this murder is framed as a courageous, liberating act. Mailer celebrates a brutal, macho ideal of masculinity that depends on crushing women.

• Jean Genet: Genet is treated differently. Millett sees Genet as a rare male writer who understands oppression because he was also oppressed (as a thief, prisoner, and homosexual). In his plays and novels, male-female roles are performed and artificial. Women are not hated; instead, power dynamics themselves are revealed as theatrical and cruel. Genet, Millett argues, comes closest to seeing patriarchy as a political system.

By exposing the sexual politics of these “great” writers, Millett shook the foundations of the literary canon. She showed that classics could be misogynist and that this misogyny had previously been ignored or even praised by male critics.

Part Three: The Counter-Revolution

Millett then examines the work of Freud and other male social scientists. She argues that Freud’s theories (penis envy, the Oedipus complex) were used to convince women that they were biologically inferior and that their proper place was in the home, seeking vicarious fulfillment through husbands and children. She also critiques the “sociological” writing of the 1950s, which idealized the suburban housewife and presented any woman seeking a career as neurotic or unfeminine.

The Personal is Political

One of the most enduring contributions of Sexual Politics is the concept that “the personal is political.” Millett argues that the family is not a private refuge from politics but the primary institution of patriarchy. Within the family, girls learn obedience, boys learn authority, and wives are economically dependent on husbands. Marriage, romantic love, and even sexual intercourse are not purely personal matters; they are political acts that reinforce male dominance.

Conclusion: Toward Liberation

Millett ends by calling for a genuine sexual revolution. This revolution, she argues, must go beyond legal equality (votes, property) and challenge the deep psychological and cultural roots of patriarchy. It must abolish the social roles of “masculine” and “feminine” altogether. This requires:

• Complete economic independence for women.

• Free, accessible birth control and abortion.

• The end of the nuclear family as the primary unit of society.

• Socialized childcare and housework.

• A new culture that does not eroticize male dominance or female submission.

Only when patriarchy as a belief system is dismantled, Millett concludes, will true sexual equality be possible.

Impact and Legacy

Sexual Politics was explosive upon publication. It infuriated many male critics and was dismissed by some as radical ranting. But it became a foundational text of academic women’s studies and inspired countless activists. Its method of analyzing culture, literature, and psychology as political tools of oppression remains a core tool of feminist criticism today.