by Ciara Cremin
Pluto Press
10/20/2025, paperback
SKU: 9780745351452
Unveils the radical feminine force to dismantle the oppressive structures of gender, class, and colonialism
What if the feminine holds the power to undo domination itself? In The Spectral Woman, Ciara Cremin reveals the feminine as the force which can abolish the rigid categories of sex and gender that sustain class exploitation, androcentrism and repression. With bold, incisive arguments, she explores the transformative potential of feminine jouissance and offers a radical path towards emancipation.
Rejecting the myths of diversity, difference and individualism, she confronts the illusions of liberal humanism, arguing for a utopian femininity that challenges the psychic impairments perpetuated by capitalist, colonial and patriarchal systems.
In a world haunted by the spectre of the transfeminine figure, Cremin sheds light on the profound potential to decolonise the unconscious and reimagine a future beyond oppression. The Spectral Woman is a bold manifesto for those willing to interrogate the structures that bind us - and envision their abolition.
Reviews:
"Cremin brilliantly demonstrates the capitalist nature of gender identity. Her spectral woman haunts every dimension of Western self-satisfied consumerism, aggressively witty and ferociously lucid. A powerfully political contribution to trans studies, and a much-needed trans contribution to political theory." --Mat Fournier, author of Dysphoric Modernism: Undoing Gender in French Literature
"We live in a world ruled by androcentrism: closed-off, competitive, case-hardened and yet always fearful about lacking something or other. It's no fun and it's killing us. What is to be undone? Ciara Cremin proposes a radical feminization of the world. Femininity is the spectre of negativity that haunts androcentrism. Femininity doesn't so much 'threaten' androcentrism--what a dick-brained idea--as render it irrelevant. I recommend this book as a travel guide for adventures toward a no-dads world." --McKenzie Wark, author of Reverse Cowgirl and Love and Money, Sex and Death
About the Author:
Ciara Cremin lectures in Sociology at the University of Auckland. She is the author of several books, including Man-Made Woman and The Future is Feminine.