The Sex Question

In the writings of the 19th and early 20th century, the questions we associate with feminism were addressed under a variety of labels, one of the most economical of which was “the sex question,” which referred, in practice, to a wide range of question concerning sex, gender, sexuality, etc. The texts collected here cover a wide range of “women’s issues.” The current collection includes material previously contained in the following archives: La Frondeuse (Black and Red Feminist History), Anarchy and the Sex Question and A Beautiful Nihilist.

Proudhon Library

Désirée Gay in “L’Opinion des Femmes,” August 1848

June 20, 2012
[These two short articles by Désirée Gay (Jeanne Desirée Véret Gay, 1810-1891) appeared in the August 1848 issue of L’Opinion des Femmes, which seems to have been a kind of testing of the waters before the launch of the official “First Year” of the paper. That issue had been preceded by a 4-page “Prospectus,” written by Jeanne Deroin, and the paper was essentially a continuation of La Politique des Femmes, but there was still a certain amount of work to do setting the tone for the project, and Gay seems to have taken on much of that work in the […]
Black and Red Feminism

Jeanne Deroin to Proudhon, January 1849

May 16, 2011 Shawn P. Wilbur
[Jeanne Deroin. “Lettre a M. Proudhon.” L’Opinion des Femmes. No. 1, Year 1. January 28, 1849.] Letter to Proudhon. Monsieur, I know that, preoccupied most especially with questions of political economy, you have not accepted all the consequences of the principles on which our social future rests. You are one of the most formidable adversaries of the principle of equality—a principle which does not allow unjust exclusion and privileges of sex. I know that you do not wish to recognize the right of women to civil and political equality. This right, which contain in it the abolition of all social […]
The Sex Question

Jeanne Deroin, “Letter to the Associations on the Organization of Credit” (1851)

December 15, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
[ezcol_2third] The radical literature that any of us are actually familiar with always seems to be just a drop in the bucket. There are masses of largely ephemeral publications in every language, and all of the advances in digital archiving have only really begun to make any sort of dent in the work to be done. We can’t ignore all that ephemera, unless we’re content with a sort of abstract, top-down understanding of our traditions. After all, for every Proudhon, there were a dozen Greenes and Langlois, and for every one of them there were dozens of Junquas and Blackers, […]
The Sex Question

André Léo, “Communism and Property” (1868)

September 13, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
Victoire Léodile Béra (1824–1900), aka André Léo, was a French novelist, socialist and feminist. She was married to Gregoire Champseix, a member of Pierre Leroux’s circle, and Benoit Malon, the “integral socialist,” but was herself every bit as formidable as either man. She participated in the Paris Commune, and delivered a rather fiery speech on “The Social War” in its aftermath, which raised hackles at the League of Peace and Freedom. And she was a delightfully clear, direct writer and speaker. It’s been a lot of fun to work on some translations of her work. COMMUNISM and PROPERTY The question […]
The Sex Question

A socialist-feminist document from 1849

August 31, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
[ezcol_2third] FRATERNAL ASSOCIATION OF THE SOCIALIST DEMOCRATS OF BOTH SEXES FOR THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 1849 —————- DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES In the name of God and the solidarity which links all the member of the great human family; We affirm that women have the same right as men to liberty, equality and fraternity. Liberty, for woman as for man, is the right and the power to develop and exercise freely and harmoniously all his physical, intellectual and moral faculties, without any limit but respect for the rights of each. All liberties are solidary; one cannot undermine any […]
The Sex Question

“A Lance for Anarchy,” Voltairine de Cleyre

December 16, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur
Voltairine de Cleyre was involved in the debates in The Open Court in the 1890s, and also published a number of poems in that journal. “A Lance for Anarchy,” which appeared in the issue of Sept. 24, 1891, was a response to an article by editor Paul Carus. A LANCE FOR ANARCHYBY VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE. THE perusal of Dr. Carus’s article, “Freethought: Its Truth and its Error” in The Open Court of Aug. 6th, has impelled me to a parallel line of thought concerning a doctrine, a principle, less understood, more misinterpreted, both by enemies and followers, than even that […]