Kate Millett

Kate Millett was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist who became a seminal figure in the second-wave feminism movement. She is best known for her groundbreaking doctoral dissertation, published as the book Sexual Politics in 1970, which provided a radical critique of patriarchy in literature and society. Her work challenged established literary and psychoanalytic traditions, influencing a generation of thinkers and propelling her to international prominence as a leading voice of radical feminism.

Early life and education

Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, she was the second of three daughters. Her father, an engineer, abandoned the family when she was fourteen, leaving her mother to support them as a teacher. She attended parochial schools before enrolling at the University of Minnesota, where she graduated *magna cum laude* in 1956 with a degree in English literature. Awarded a fellowship, she then attended St Hilda's College, Oxford, becoming one of the first American women to receive a first-class degree from the university. After returning to the United States, she taught English at the University of North Carolina before moving to New York City in 1961. She later earned a Ph.D. in English and comparative literature from Columbia University in 1970.

Career and activism

In the 1960s, she became deeply involved in the civil rights movement and the growing women's liberation movement. She was a founding member of the National Organization for Women but later became a more radical critic of its mainstream approach. Her activism was intersectional; she was a vocal supporter of gay liberation and co-founded the Feminist Art Program at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1970, her participation in a landmark protest against the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey brought national attention to feminist critiques of beauty standards. She also played a significant role in the establishment of the Women's Liberation Center in Manhattan.

Sexual Politics and feminist theory

Her doctoral thesis, published as Sexual Politics, became an instant and controversial bestseller. The work launched a systematic attack on the patriarchal underpinnings of Western society, analyzing the works of authors like D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, and Norman Mailer. She argued that sexual relations were fundamentally political, reflecting and reinforcing a pervasive system of male domination. The book famously dissected the ideology of Sigmund Freud and introduced the concept of "patriarchy" as a central analytical tool for feminism. Its publication made her a celebrity and a central target for critics, including a famous, critical cover story in Time magazine.

Later works and artistic career

Following the intense scrutiny from Sexual Politics, she turned to more autobiographical and experimental writing. Works like Flying (1974) and Sita (1977) explored her bisexuality and personal relationships. Her 1979 book, The Basement: Meditations on a Human Sacrifice, examined the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens. Alongside writing, she maintained a parallel career as a visual artist, working primarily in sculpture and installation art. She held exhibitions in New York City, Tokyo, and Paris, and her artwork often addressed themes of freedom and confinement. In 1979, she purchased a Christmas tree farm in Poughkeepsie, New York, which she developed into an artist colony for women known as the Millett Center for the Arts.

Personal life and legacy

She married sculptor Fumio Yoshimura in 1965, a marriage she later described as a friendship of convenience that did not conflict with her relationships with women. She was openly bisexual and her 1970 Time cover story controversially "outed" her, an experience she wrote about in her memoir The Loony-Bin Trip (1990), which also detailed her struggles with mental health and forced institutionalization. She divided her time between New York and Paris, where she died in 2017. Her legacy is that of a pioneering theorist who provided the women's liberation movement with a foundational academic text, expanding the feminist critique into the realms of literature, psychology, and politics and inspiring subsequent generations of activists and scholars.

Category:American feminists Category:American women writers Category:American artists Category:1934 births Category:2017 deaths