The Spectral Woman
Transfemininity and the Abolition of Gender
Published on 20. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-0-7453-5145-2 (ISBN)
Description
'A radical feminisation of the world' - McKenzie Wark, author of Reverse Cowgirl
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, offering 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.
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, offering 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 / Votes
'Recover femininity. Negate gender. Abolish androcentrism. Realize communism. With her tour-de-force, Ciara Cremin shows us we can because we must' -- Jodi Dean, author of <i>Comrade: An Essay on Political Belonging</i> 'Pithy, provocative, and probing, this book charts an emancipatory path via the creative and destabilizing negativity of the trans-femme specter. An engaging and lively read, with wide reaching implications' -- Jennifer Friedlander, author of <i>Real Deceptions: The Contemporary Reinvention of Realism</i> '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 <i>Dysphoric Modernism: Undoing Gender in French Literature</i> '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 <i>Reverse Cowgirl</i> and <i>Love and Money, Sex and Death</i> 'A provocative mashup of psychoanalytic theory, Marxism, late capitalist commodity culture and 'cross-dressing', The Spectral Woman makes an iconoclastic contribution to the burgeoning trans studies literature that reseats the field in 20th-century radical thought to offer fresh insights today' -- Susan Stryker, founding co-editor (emerita) of <i>Transgender Studies Quarterly</i>More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 212 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
328 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7453-5145-2 (9780745351452)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2025
1st Edition
Pluto Press
€30.49
Available for download
Person
Ciara Cremin lectures in Sociology at the University of Auckland. She is a critical and cultural theorist whose work diagnoses the socio-economic, cultural, and subjective condition of late capitalism, and the author of several books, including Man-Made Woman and The Future is Feminine.
Content
Acknowledgements
1. Handbag and Sickle
2. The Feminine Lure
3. How to be a Woman, Negatively
4. Force Femininity
5. Femininity and Phantasmagoria
6. Towards a Feminine Communism
1. Handbag and Sickle
2. The Feminine Lure
3. How to be a Woman, Negatively
4. Force Femininity
5. Femininity and Phantasmagoria
6. Towards a Feminine Communism