Shulamith Bath Shmuel Ben Ari Firestone (born Feuerstein; January 7, 1945 – August 28, 2012) was a Canadian-American

radical feminist Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a Political radicalism, radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are al ...

writer and activist. Firestone was a central figure in the early development of radical feminism and

second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains. Wh ...

and a founding member of three radical-feminist groups:

New York Radical Women New York Radical Women (NYRW) was an early second-wave radical feminist group that existed from 1967 to 1969. They drew nationwide media attention when they unfurled a banner inside the 1968 Miss America pageant displaying the words "Women' ...

Redstockings Redstockings, also known as Redstockings of the Women's Liberation Movement, is a radical feminist nonprofit that was founded in January 1969 in New York City, whose goal is "To Defend and Advance the Women's Liberation Agenda". The group's name ...

, and

New York Radical Feminists New York Radical Feminists (NYRF) was a radical feminist group founded by Shulamith Firestone and Anne Koedt in 1969, after they had left Redstockings and The Feminists, respectively. Firestone's and Koedt's desire to start this new group was a ...

. Within these radical movements, Firestone became known as "the firebrand" and "the fireball" for the fervor and passion she expressed towards the cause. Firestone participated in activism such as speaking out at The National Conference for New Politics in Chicago. Also while a member of various feminist groups she participated in actions including picketing a Miss America Contest, organizing a mock funeral for womanhood known as "The Burial of Traditional Womanhood", protesting sexual harassment at Madison Square Garden, organizing abortion speak outs, and disrupting abortion legislation meetings. In 1970, Firestone authored '' The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution''. Published in September of that year, the book became an influential feminist text.Benewick, Robert and Green, Philip (1998). "Shulamith Firestone 1945–". ''The Routledge Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Political thinkers''. 2nd edition. Routledge, pp.&nbs
65–67
''The Dialectic of Sex'' and the ideas presented within it became important in both

cyberfeminism Cyberfeminism is a feminist approach which foregrounds the relationship between cyberspace, the Internet, and technology. It can be used to refer to a philosophy, methodology or community. The term was coined in the early 1990s to describe the w ...

and xenofeminism, as her ideas were a precursor for other subjects regarding technology and gender. In her writing career Firestone also helped write and edit a magazine called ''Notes''. Her final written text was ''Airless Spaces'' written in 1998, which consisted of short stories all relating to her experience with mental illness and schizophrenia. A documentary called ''Shulie'' was created depicting Firestone during her time as a student, and it outlined her journey to becoming a feminist figure and important author. The original documentary featuring Firestone was never released, but a recreation of it was. Firestone struggled with schizophrenia after her retirement from activism and suffered from the illness until her death in 2012.

Early life

Firestone was born Shulamith bath Shmuel ben Ari Feuerstein in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Canada on January 7, 1945.Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. Tracie Ratiner. Vol. 27. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2007. p129-131. Firestone was the second of six children and the first daughter of parents Kate Weiss, a German Jew who fled the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, and Sol Feuerstein, a Brooklyn salesman. Firestone's parents were Orthodox Jews but her funeral would later be held at the Episcopal St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. In April 1945, when Firestone was four months old, her father took part in the liberation of the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...

in Germany. When she was a child, the family

Anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

their surname to Firestone and moved to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. Her father had

become Seventh Wonder is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 2000. History Seventh Wonder was formed in 2000 by bass player Andreas Blomqvist, guitarist Johan Liefvendahl and drummer Johnny Sandin after their previous band fel ...

Orthodox when he was a teenager and, according to Susan Faludi, he exercised tight control over his children, with the zeal of a convert. One of her sisters,

Tirzah Firestone Tirzah Firestone (born May 27, 1954) is an American analytical psychotherapist, author, and Jewish Renewal rabbi. She is the founding rabbi of Congregation Nevei Kodesh, a Jewish Renewal synagogue in Boulder, Colorado, and is now Rabbi Emerita th ...

, told Faludi: "My father threw his rage at Shulie." She railed against the family's sexism; Firestone was expected to make her brother's bed, "because you're a girl", her father told her. Laya Firestone Seghi, another sister, remembers father and daughter threatening to kill one another. Firestone's mother was described by her sister, Tirzah, as having a "passive view of femininity that was governed by what she regarded as "what Jewish women do."

Education

Firestone attended

Telshe Yeshiva Telshe Yeshiva (also spelled ''Telz'') is a yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, formerly located in Telšiai, Lithuania. During World War II the yeshiva began relocating to Wickliffe, Ohio, in the United States and is now known as the Rabbinical College ...

near Cleveland. She then attended

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

and in 1967 earned a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

in painting from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

(SAIC). While in Chicago she started her first Women's Liberation group, Westside.

Activism

Radical feminism

Firestone was considered a

because she believed that women are an oppressed sex-class and that women's liberation can only be achieved through the revolutionary overthrow of the world-patriarchal system. She drew upon the works of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Frederick Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' but criticized them for their lack of class-independent analysis of women's downtrodden condition and thus expanded their analysis to women's subordination. In ''The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution'' she states, "Feminists have to question, not just all of ''Western'' culture, but the organization of culture itself, and further, even the organization of nature." One of her radical beliefs was that women's oppression directly sprung from women's capacity for and vulnerability during pregnancy and childbirth, that men were able to take advantage of. In ''The Dialectic of Sex'', she argues that we should invest in advanced technology in order to free women from childbirth. Her views on childbirth shocked other feminists. Her perspectives in ''The Dialectic of Sex'' can also be seen as a precursor to

. Furthermore, her actions as a part of various feminist groups were seen as radical because they addressed issues around women's lives that were not discussed, especially by women. Some of these topics include the female orgasm as well as forced abortion drives.

Westside

In 1967, at 22, Firestone, along with nearly 2,000 other young activists, attended the National Conference for New Politics in Chicago, held from August 31 to September 1. Here, Firestone met

Jo Freeman Jo Freeman aka Joreen (born August 26, 1945), is an American feminist, political scientist, writer and attorney. As a student at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1960s, she became active in organizations working for civil liberties ...

and the two bonded over their shared outrage in response to the dismissal of women's issues at the conference. The two women put forth a resolution that called for equitable marital and property laws and "complete control by women of their own bodies." The women were told their resolution was not important enough for a floor discussion. They eventually managed to have their statement added to the end of the agenda, but it was not discussed. The director, Willam F. Pepper, refused to recognize any of the women waiting to speak. When five women, including Firestone, ran to the podium to protest, Pepper patted Firestone on the head and said, "Cool down, little girl; we have more important things to talk about than women's problems." Shortly afterwards, Firestone and Freeman called a meeting that spawned the first Chicago women's liberation group. It was known as the Westside group because it met weekly in Freeman's apartment on Chicago's west side. After a few months Freeman started a newsletter, Voice of the Women's Liberation Movement. It circulated nationwide (and in a few foreign countries), giving the new movement its name. Many of the women in the Westside group went on to start other feminist organizations, including the

Chicago Women's Liberation Union The Chicago Women's Liberation Union (CWLU) was an American feminist organization founded in 1969 at a conference in Palatine, Illinois. The main goal of the organization was to end gender inequality and sexism, which the CWLU defined as "the sy ...

New York Radical Women

In October 1967, after establishing the Westside group, Firestone moved to New York to flee a physically abusive boyfriend. In an unpublished work, Firestone recalls the abuse she had been subjected to, including being hit so hard one of her teeth was knocked out of place. After moving to New York, Firestone helped found the New York Radical Women, an early second-wave feminist radical feminist group, along with Robin Morgan, Carol Hanisch, and Pam Allen. The New York Radical women were the city's first women's liberation group. A manifesto was written for the group, called the New York Radical Women's Principles. In the manifesto the group of participants were defined by their shared rejection of history based purely on a male perspective. It addressed how women's history had been oppressed and anyone who believed in feminism should work together to fight against that oppression. Also clearly stated within the principles was the group's belief that violence was not the appropriate action to attempt and create change. The

's group instilled a psychology program that was considered radical. The program aimed to teach women to view themselves as more strong, independent and assertive. It was believed that by doing so women would not just be seen as subservient to men and it could combat the societal deprecation of women.

Redstockings, New York Radical Feminists

When NYRW formed "

consciousness raising Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or ...

groups", Firestone and

Ellen Willis Ellen Jane Willis (December 14, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American left-wing political essayist, journalist, activist, feminist, and pop music critic. A 2014 collection of her essays, ''The Essential Ellen Willis,'' received the Nation ...

co-founded the radical feminist group

, named after the

Blue Stockings Society The Blue Stockings Society, an informal women's social and educational movement in England in the mid-18th century, emphasised education and mutual cooperation. Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Vesey and others founded it in the early 1750s as a ...

, an 18th-century women's literary group. Redstocking members included

Kathie Sarachild Kathie Sarachild (born Kathie Amatniek in 1943) is an American writer and radical feminist. In 1968, she took the last name "Sarachild" after her mother Sara, coined the phrase "Sisterhood is Powerful" in a flier she wrote for the keynote speech s ...

("Sisterhood is Powerful") and

Carol Hanisch Carol Hanisch (born 1942) is a radical feminist activist. She was an important member of New York Radical Women and Redstockings. She is best known for popularizing the phrase "the personal is political" in a 1970 essay of the same name.https:/ ...

("the personal is political"). The group supported history being portrayed by female perspectives, and believed that female writers could help protest the patriarchy. The women of the Redstockings thought that consciousness raising was a way to reform history and it was their version of resistance. They chose to raise their own consciousness by studying the lives of women, and they focused on aspects such as their childhood, jobs, and motherhood. In their groups they discussed their own personal experiences, instead of just focusing on written material on a subject. The women also applied certain generalizations and theories to themselves and observed real feelings and experiences to further their understanding. It was-understood that consciousness raising actions could help address old ideas and present society with new ones. From mass awareness could come action on a larger scale. However, it was not in the interest of the group to make the Redstockings a service organization or large membership organization. In the Redstockings Manifesto, the group asserted the realities and primacy of women's historical and ongoing oppression, as well as the class nature of relationship between the sexes, as follows: Similar to the New York Radical Women group, the Redstockings group believed it necessary to revolutionize society on a psychological level. They did this by getting women to explore their own individuality in order to resist male dominance. It was understood that if power could be taken back by individuals, then the process would expand to also affect society. Other actions taken by the group included putting out a journal, and protesting a Miss America contest to address the theme of women's appearance that was prevalent within society. The group threw out objects associated with pain that women suffer for the sake of "beauty" such as high heels and girdles. This action was important because it helped start the Women's Liberation Movement. The Redstockings disbanded in 1970. Firestone co-founded

(NYRF) in 1969 with

Anne Koedt Anne Koedt (born 1941) is an American radical feminist activist and author of " The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm", a 1970 classic feminist work on women's sexuality. She was connected to the group New York Radical Women and was a founding member ...

after they left the Redstockings

Other actions

Firestone participated in many protests and political actions regarding feminist issues, and she even organized the first abortion speak out. The speak out was held in March 1969 at

Judson Memorial Church The Judson Memorial Church is located on Washington Square South between Thompson Street and Sullivan Street, near Gould Plaza, opposite Washington Square Park, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It ...

and consisted of twelve women of whom Firestone had convinced to share their personal accounts with the issue. The feminist groups that Firestone had helped found also participated in protests and street performances during their existence. Some actions included disrupting abortion law hearings and collecting at establishments that prohibited the attendance of women without male accompaniment. The women also participated in the "Burial of Traditional Womanhood" that took place at the

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

1968, in which a funeral was held for a dummy dressed to resemble the common housewife. Further actions were the releasing of mice in Madison Square Garden during a bridal fair, or the ogling of men on Wall Street to draw attention to sexual harassment.

Writing

''Notes''

With others from New York Radical Feminists, Firestone created and edited a feminist periodical, ''Notes'', producing ''Notes from the First Year'' (June 1968), ''Notes from the Second Year'' (1970), and, with

as editor while Firestone was on leave, ''Notes from the Third Year'' (1971). *Firestone, Shulamith (June 1968). ed
''Notes from the First Year''
New York: New York Radical Women. (''Duke Digital Collections'') *Firestone, Shulamith (1970a). ed
''Notes from the Second Year''
New York: New York Radical Women. (''Duke Digital Collections'') *Koedt, Anne; Firestone, Shulamith (1971). ed
''Notes from the Third Year''
New York: New York Radical Women. (''Duke Digital Collections'') Firestone utilized ''Notes'' as a form of radical, feminist propaganda that enlightened and educated female readers. The notes included topics such as the vaginal orgasm and

The Personal is Political ''The personal is political'', also termed ''The private is political'', is a political argument used as a rallying slogan of student movement and second-wave feminism from the late 1960s. In the context of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1 ...

, which created discussion for radical feminism.

''The Women's Rights Movement in the U.S.A: New View''

Firestone also published The Women's Rights Movement in the US: A New View in 1968. The essay focused on Firestone's belief that the movement had the ability to become revolutionary. In her essay, Firestone asserts that the women's rights movement has always been radical. She discusses 19th century suffragist, using examples of women taking on the church, white male power, and the "traditional" family structure. Her essay counters the minimization of women's struggles and the oppression they fought.

''The Dialectic of Sex''

'' The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution'' (1970) became a classic text of

. This was Firestone's first book and was published when she was just 25. In the book, Firestone sought to develop a materialist view of history based on sex. Also notable within the book is the ideal society Firestone creates, one void of the oppression of women. ''The Dialectic of Sex'' was perceived to be a Utopian manifesto dedicated to exploring some to the contradictions present in the United States at the time to an extreme. The book was met with both applause and outrage and it even made the best sellers list. Firestone synthesized the ideas of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author ...

Frederick Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...

into a radical feminist theory of politics. She also acknowledged the influence of Lincoln H. and Alice T. Day's ''Too Many Americans'' (1964) and the 1968 best-seller ''

The Population Bomb ''The Population Bomb'' is a 1968 book co-authored by Stanford University Professor emeritus Paul R. Ehrlich and Stanford senior researcher emeritus in conservation biology Anne Howland Ehrlich. It predicted worldwide famine due to overpopulati ...

'' by

Paul R. Ehrlich Paul Ralph Ehrlich (born May 29, 1932) is an American biologist known for his warnings about the consequences of population growth and limited resources. He is the Bing Professor Emeritus of Population Studies of the Department of Biology of St ...

. Within her book, Firestone asserts that modern society could not achieve true sex equality until women's biological traits are separated from their identity. ''The Dialectic of Sex'' was largely influenced by the existing views of Simone de Beauvoir. Firestone supported the belief that the women were limited by their capacity for pregnancy. She also connected the ideas in her book to de Beauvoir's view that motherhood oppressed women, and women became victims in a patriarchal based society. Firestone believed in the importance of recognizing and creating awareness for the history and predecessors of the feminist movement, so she dedicated her book to Simone de Beauvoir. She also makes the claim that Freud and Marx had ignored what she called the "sex class", the domination of women given their biological differences.

Gender inequality Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which men and women are not treated equally. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology, or cultural norms prevalent in the society. Some of these distinctions are empi ...

stems from the

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...

societal structures imposed upon women because of their bodies, she argued, particularly the physical, social, and psychological disadvantages caused by

pregnancy Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...

childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births globall ...

, and

child-rearing Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical fitness, physical, emotional, Social change, social, spiritual and intellectual development of a child from infant, infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raisi ...

. She expanded on Marx's views of class to argue for the existence of the sex-class syste,, which she believed was created due to biological distinctions associated with reproduction. Just as Marx connected class differences to divisions in labour, Firestone associated the differences in the classes of sex to be caused by the sexual division of labor, both within and outside of reproduction. Unlike the adherents of

cultural feminism Cultural feminism, the view that there is a "female nature" or "female essence", attempts to revalue and redefine attributes ascribed to femaleness. It is also used to describe theories that commend innate differences between women and men. Cultu ...

of her time, Firestone didn't believe that women could be liberated through asserting their innate biological superiority. Firestone also insists that to be human is to outgrow nature, saying: "we can no longer justify the maintenance of a discriminatory sex class system on the grounds of its origin in Nature.", and "The abolition of the sex class requires that women take control of the means of reproduction", like the Marxist view that the

proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...

must seize the

means of production The means of production is a term which describes land, labor and capital that can be used to produce products (such as goods or services); however, the term can also refer to anything that is used to produce products. It can also be used as an ...

. She regarded pregnancy and childbirth as "barbaric" (a friend of hers compared labor to "shitting a pumpkin") and the

nuclear family A nuclear family, elementary family, cereal-packet family or conjugal family is a family group consisting of parents and their children (one or more), typically living in one home residence. It is in contrast to a single-parent family, the larger ...

as a key source of women's oppression.

Contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

in vitro fertilization In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

and other medical advances meant that sex would one day be separated from pregnancy and child-rearing, and women could be free. However, Firestone hoped to take reproduction one step further and completely separate it from the female body. She urged the emergence of a new type of artificial reproduction, referred to as the "bottled baby," through which women could be freed of the hindrance of childbirth, just as men are. Although in vitro is the closest option we have to such a phenomenon, we have not yet reached Firestone's end goal. Firestone also criticized the dynamic that exists between heterosexual parenting and child development. She argued that children are hindered in their abilities to develop because of their education, predetermined positions in the social hierarchy, and "lesser importance" in comparison to the adult figures in their lives. Parents controlled these aspects of their children's lives. This, in turn, has increased maternal expectations and obligations, which is something Firestone desired for society to outgrow. This dependency on maternal figures makes the child(ren) more susceptible to physical abuse and deprives them of the opportunity to work towards being economically independent and possess or feed into sexual urges. It was her vision to solve these problems by eliminating families for the raising of children, and instead have children raised by a collective. Specifically Firestone wanted to eliminate what was coined nuclear families, which were household that consisted of a husband, wife, and their child(ren). She believed that these families were a form of social organization and created inequality within a family as the children were considered subordinates to their parents.

''Airless Spaces''

By the time ''The Dialectic of Sex'' was published in 1970, Firestone had largely ceased to be politically active. She withdrew from politics in the early seventies, moved to Saint Marks Place, and worked as a painter. In the late eighties, she became mentally ill. In 1998 she published ''Airless Spaces,'' a collection of fictional short stories based on her experiences being hospitalized for

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

. Inspired by personal experience, this work highlights the lives and struggles of various characters in New York City battling with mental illness and poverty. Each narrative in the book addresses the difficulties of mental disorder, as well as the feelings of "shame, humiliation, fear, loneliness, and anxiety" that accompany it. There is a consistent presence of instability in the lives of each character in regards to economic and social status, along with mental state. "Airless Spaces" is said to be a reflection of the marginalization Firestone experienced resulting from her radical feminist ideals and lifestyle, as well as the hardships of individuals to escape from the dehumanizing aspects of the mental health field.

Struggle with mental illness

In May 1974, Firestone was called home to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

following the news of her brother Daniel's death. She was told he died in a car crash, but later came to know the true cause of death, a gunshot wound to the chest. Her brother's apparent suicide shook the family's

Jewish Orthodox Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

beliefs and sent Shulamith Firestone into a battle with mental illness. Firestone refused to attend her brother's funeral and stated, "Whether murder or suicide, afterlife or no,

is death In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' i ...

contributed to my own growing madness." Following her brother's death, her parents, Sol and Kate Firestone, planned to emigrate to Israel, prompting an argument that ultimately resulted in Shulamith's disavowal of her parents. She stated in a certified letter that she had "dissolved her tie of blood." In 1987, Shulamith's sister Tirzah stated, "it was when our father died that Shulie went into psychosis. She lost that ballast he somehow provided." Firestone's condition was officially diagnosed as

paranoid schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. ...

, following which she was repeatedly hospitalized at

Beth Israel Medical Center Mount Sinai Beth Israel is a 799-bed teaching hospital in Manhattan. It is part of the Mount Sinai Health System, a nonprofit health system formed in September 2013 by the merger of Continuum Health Partners and Mount Sinai Medical Center, an ...

. Dr. Margaret Fraser, her psychiatrist, stated that she suffered from a particularly severe form of

Capgras syndrome Capgras delusion or Capgras syndrome is a psychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent, or other close family member (or pet) has been replaced by an identical impostor. It is named after Joseph Capgras ( ...

, which caused her to believe that the people in her life "were hiding behind masks of faces." Eventually, friends and acquaintances, under the guidance of Fraser, her psychiatrist, began a community effort to watch over and care for Firestone as her mental health deteriorated. When Fraser moved and her confidante Lourdes Cintron fell ill, the community of women disbanded, leaving Firestone to her

psychosis Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...

and death.

Death

On August 28, 2012, Firestone was found dead in her New York apartment by the building's owner. Alerted by neighbors, who had smelt the foul odor of her decomposing corpse from her apartment, her superintendent peered in through a window from the fire escape and saw her body on the floor. Her landlord, Bob Perl, said she had probably been dead about a week. According to her sister, Laya Firestone Seghi, she died of natural causes, but because of her family's staunchly Orthodox views, an official autopsy was never done to confirm or deny the theory that starvation was the cause of her death. According to reports, she lived in a reclusive fashion and had been in ill physical and mental health. In a commemorative essay by Susan Faludi published several months after Firestone's death, ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' magazine further detailed the circumstances of her demise, citing her decades-long struggle with schizophrenia—along with speculation of self-induced starvation—as probable contributing factors. A memorial service was arranged in her memory.

Legacy

''The Dialectic of Sex''

''The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution'' is still used in many women's studies programs. Its recommendations, such as raising children in a gender neutral fashion, mirror the ideals Firestone set out to achieve. Many of the main ideas within the book are still prominent in the feminist debate on the use of technology advancements in reproduction. The work of Shulamith Firestone is considered an origin to the combination of science and technology with critical thinking from a feminist lens. Her ideas are still shared and discussed including her belief of the necessity for more women to pursue careers in engineering and science. Firestone's views can also be found in scientific advancements such as the production of artificial sperm and eggs and how their production may lead to the elimination of differences between the sexes.

Cyberfeminism and Xenofeminism

''The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution'' also has a legacy in the branch of feminism known as

. Firestone anticipated what is now known today as "cyborgian femnism". Her book was a precursor to contemporary activities by cyberfeminists. Specifically it was Firestone's argument that women needed technology in order to free themselves from the obligation of reproducing. Firestone was an important theoretician who connected gender inequities to the view of women as purely child bearers, and she pushed for the increase in technology to abolish gender oppression. The ideas that Shulamith presented about technology differed to those of many other writers during her time, as she introduced technology as a tool to help ignite a feminist revolution, rather than act as a form of male violence. Firestone's work helped to spread a discourse on the general ideals of cyberfeminism. Shulamith Firestone also became a predecessor to

Donna Haraway Donna J. Haraway is an American Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and technology studies. Sh ...

, and her cyberfeminist texts. Both of their works have similar views and aspirations, as they both address biology and are attempting to eliminate it through the use of technology. The two women envisioned a future in which individuals are more androgynous and the views of the female body are reconstructed. Similarly the works also connect how these changes affect or would affect labor roles. Shulamith's book created an understanding for gender transformation, and these themes are still a basis of cyberfeminist writing presently. Themes in ''The Dialectic of Sex'' have ties in xenofeminism as well. Firestone's desire to free women from the burden of reproduction and eliminate the use of sex organs to define an individual's identity has connections to the ambition of xenofeminists to create a society in which all individuals are not assigned traits based on their supposed sex. Helen Hester, one of the members who helped write ''The Xenofeminism Manifesto'', related her contributions to the ideas on feminism and technology presented by Firestone. She even credited Shulamith as one of the key theorists who contributed to the xenofeminism discourse.

"Shulie"

During her studies at the

Firestone was the subject of a student documentary film. In the film, she is asked questions about her views on education, art, relationships, religion, and politics. She is also shown working on her painting and photography, presenting her artwork for critique by professors, and working part-time at a post office. Never released, the film was rediscovered in the 1990s by experimental filmmaker Elisabeth Subrin, who did a frame-by-frame reshoot of the original documentary. It was released in 1997 as ''Shulie'' winning two awards, including the 1998

Los Angeles Film Critics Association The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is an American film critic organization founded in 1975. Background Its membership comprises film critics from Los Angeles-based print and electronic media. In December of each year, the organiza ...

award. The film depicts Firestone as a young student and her journey into becoming one of the most notable second-wave feminists and feminist authors of the 20th century. In 1998, the film was honored with the Independent/Experimental Film and Video Award by the Los Angeles Film-Critics Association, receiving acknowledgement alongside films like ''

Saving Private Ryan ''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Battle of Normandy in World War II, the film is known for its graphic portrayal of war, especially its depictio ...

'', ''

A Bug's Life ''A Bug's Life'' is a 1998 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was the second feature-length film produced by Pixar. Directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Andrew Stant ...

'', and '' Rushmore''. Two years later, the documentary received the "Experimental Award" from the New England Film and Video Festival. The documentary was praised by ''

'' for its use of dialectical thought (a concept featured in Firestone's work) in the production of a film set decades prior to its filming.

Works

*(1968)
"The Women's Rights Movement in the U.S.: A New View"

Notes from the First Year
'. New York: New York Radical Women. *(1968)
"The Jeanette Rankin Brigade: Woman Power?"
''Notes from the First Year''. New York: New York Radical Women. *(1968)

''Notes from the First Year''. New York: New York Radical Women. *(1968)
"When Women Rap about Sex"
''Notes from the First Year''. New York: New York Radical Women. *(1968), ed
''Notes from the First Year''
New York: New York Radical Women. *(1970), ed
''Notes from the Second Year''
New York: New York Radical Women. *(1970). '' The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution''. New York: William Morrow and Company. *(1971), with

, eds
''Notes from the Third Year''
New York: New York Radical Women. *(1998). ''Airless Spaces''. New York:

Semiotext(e) Semiotext(e) is an independent publisher of critical theory, fiction, philosophy, art criticism, activist texts and non-fiction. History Founded in 1974, ''Semiotext(e)'' began as a journal that emerged from a semiotics reading group led by Sylv ...

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Firestone, Shulamith 1945 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century Canadian Jews 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian women writers American feminist writers American people of German-Jewish descent Canadian feminist writers Canadian people of German-Jewish descent Feminist studies scholars Freudo-Marxism Jewish American writers Jewish Canadian writers Jewish feminists Jewish socialists New York Radical Feminists members New York Radical Women members People with schizophrenia Radical feminists Redstockings members School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Second-wave feminism Washington University in St. Louis alumni Writers from Ottawa