The Female Eunuch
Germaine Greer's 1970 feminist bestseller on women's repressed sexuality.
At a glance
Key ideas
Eunuchs, Self-hatred, Revolution
See all 3Reception
Laura Miller, Simon LeVay, Camille Paglia
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- Greer argues that the suburban, consumerist nuclear family represses women sexually and so turns them into eunuchs.
- In sections called Body, Soul, Energy, Love and Hate she examines how women's sense of self has been defined and limited.
- She writes with humour and coarse candour about female sexuality.
- She concludes that change must come by revolution, not evolution.
Why it matters
- It was a key text of 1970s feminism and made Greer a household name.
Key facts
- Author
- Germaine Greer1
- Published
- October 1970, London1
- Commissioned
- By Sonny Mehta of MacGibbon & Kee in 19692
- Reach
- Nearly sold out its second printing by March 1971; translated into eleven languages1
- Sequel
- The Whole Woman (1999)1
Key ideas
Reception
Connections
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