Marilyn Frye

Marilyn Frye
Born	1941 (age 82–83) Tulsa, Oklahoma,U.S.
Education	Stanford University(BA) Cornell University(MA,PhD)

Marilyn Frye(born 1941) is an American philosopher andradical feministtheorist. She is known for her theories onsexism,racism,oppression,and sexuality. Her writings offer discussions of feminist topics, such as:white supremacy,male privilege,and gay and lesbianmarginalization.Although she approaches the issues from the perspective of justice, she is also engaged with themetaphysics,epistemology,andmoral psychologyof social categories.

Education and career

Frye received a BA with honors in philosophy fromStanford Universityin 1963 and a PhD in philosophy atCornell Universityin 1969. She wrote her dissertation, titledMeaning and Illocutionary Force,under the supervision ofMax Black.Before coming toMichigan State Universityin 1974, she taught in the philosophy department at theUniversity of Pittsburgh.From 2003 until her retirement, Frye was University Distinguished Professor atMichigan State University;she also served as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies of the College of Arts and Letters. In 2008 she was thePhi Beta KappaRomanell Lecturer.

Research and publications

Frye is the author ofThe Politics of Reality(1983), a collection of nine essays which has become a "classic" of feminist philosophy.

In her chapter entitled "Oppression" in the bookFeminist Frontiers,Frye discusses the idea of thedouble bindin gender. This double bind refers to "situations in which options are reduced to a very few and all of them expose one to penalty, censure or deprivation". Frye applies this principle to gender and the dilemma women often face in her discussion of oppression. For example, it is neither socially acceptable for a woman to be sexually active or for her to be sexually inactive and labelled a "man-hater" or "uptight". This absence of choice permeates so thoroughly into women's day-to-day life that even small things like how they choose to dress or talk are criticized. Frye acknowledges that men face issues as well, but differentiates the issues of men and women through the metaphor of a bird cage. As Frye tells it, each individual bind women face can be thought of as a single bar in a cage: by itself, it isn't enough to contain the bird. But, with enough bars, the bird is trapped inside the cage, left with nowhere to go. This is the complete absence of choice Frye describes: how it is the culmination of issues women face that is so "immobilizing" and why, for Frye, their struggle—and not men's—is consideredoppression.

Frye is alesbian,and much of her work explores social categories—in particular, those based onraceandgender.

Awards and distinctions

• Frye was named Distinguished Woman Philosopher of the Yearby theSociety for Women in Philosophyin 2001.
• Frye was chosen asPhi Beta Kappa's Romanell Professor in Philosophy for 2007-2008. The annually-awarded Romanell Professorship "recognizes the recipient's distinguished achievement and substantial contribution to the public understanding of philosophy." Recipients of this award also offer a series of lectures open to the public; Frye's series was entitled "Kinds of People: Ontology and Politics."

Bibliography

Books

• Frye, Marilyn (1983).The politics of reality: essays in feminist theory.Trumansburg, New York: Crossing Press.ISBN9780895940995.
• Frye, Marilyn (1992).Willful virgin: essays in feminism, 1976-1992.Freedom, California: Crossing Press.ISBN9780895945532.
• Frye, Marilyn;Hoagland, Sarah Lucia(2000).Feminist interpretations of Mary Daly.Re-reading the canon. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University.ISBN9780271020198.

Chapters in books

• "Categories and Dichotomies",Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories,ed., Loraine Code, NY: Routledge, (2000)
• "Essentialism/Ethnocentrism: The Failure of the Ontological Cure",Is Academic Feminism Dead? Theory in Practice,ed., the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota, NYU Press, (2000)
• Frye, Marilyn (2005), "Oppression", inCudd, Ann E.;Andreasen, Robin O. (eds.),Feminist theory: a philosophical anthology,Oxford, UK Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Pub, pp. 84–90,ISBN9781405116619.
• Frye, Marilyn (2005), "Categories in distress", in Andrew, Barbara S.; Keller, Jean; Schwartzman, Lisa H. (eds.),Feminist interventions in ethics and politics: feminist ethics and social theory,Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 41–58,ISBN9780742542693.

Journal articles

• "The Necessity of Differences: Constructing a Positive Category of Women,"SIGNS: Journal of Women in Culture and Society,Vol.21, No.4, Summer (1996)

External links

• Michigan State University faculty profile page