Heteropessimistic

For [C.K.] Louie, masturbation’s explicitness (its permanence as a fact of male heterosexuality) as well as its mediation (its dependence on controlling women as objects of desire) advance the heteropessimistic thesis that all male fantasies must compulsively mistreat women.

To transcend the severe limitations (indeed, violent transphobia) of dissident feminism, as well as the heteropessimistic despair found in orthodox feminism, feminists must try – however cathartic and in one sense therapeutic it is – to resist the temptation to reinscribe the identity of ‘man’ at the expense of more politically productive feminist analysis.

But as Ms. Montei suggests, the heteropessimistic spirit of the moment isn’t just about sex or dating.