The sexual contract

A vigorous and innovative feminist reinterpretation of political theory.

In this book, political scientist Carole Pateman shows that social contract theorists of the 15th and 18th centuries remained silent about the sexual contract, which establishes modern patriarchy and the domination of men over women. As Pateman writes, "The men who supposedly make the original contract are white men, and their fraternal pact has three aspects: the social contract, the sexual contract, and the slave contract, which legitimizes white domination over Black people."

Narratives about the sexual contract are explored on several fronts. On the one hand, through a thorough examination of some classical and contemporary contract theorists, such as Hobbes, Pufendorf, Locke, Rousseau, James Buchanan, and John Rawls. On the other, through the search for the genesis of modern patriarchy, with the help of authors such as Sir Robert Filmer, Sigmund Freud, and Claude Lévi-Strauss. Also, through the analysis of the mutually interdependent construction of the wife as "housewife" and the husband as "worker," as well as the relationship between the marriage contract and the employment contract. Finally, the author also focuses on other contracts involving women: prostitution and surrogacy, weighing and discussing feminist arguments in this regard.

The result is an original and well-founded reinterpretation of political theory that illuminates crucial issues such as freedom and subordination.

""If women secured their civil and political rights and became economically independent in the new world of voluntary cooperation, they would have no reason to submit to men for their subsistence, and men would have no means to become sexual masters of women.""