The Spectral Woman

Transfemininity and the Abolition of Gender

Ciara Cremin

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9780745351452
• eBook ISBN: 9780745351469
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Political History & Theory
• Index: Social Sciences

‘A radical feminisation of the world’ McKenzie Wark, author of Reverse Cowgirl

‘Recover femininity. Negate gender. Abolish androcentrism. Realise communism. With her tour-de-force, Ciara Cremin shows us we can because we must’ Jodi Dean, author of Comrade

‘Brilliantly demonstrates the capitalist nature of gender identity’ Mat Fournier, author of Dysphoric Modernism

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 and offers 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.

Ciara Cremin lectures in Sociology at the University of Auckland. She is the author of several books, including Man-Made Woman and The Future is Feminine.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 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
• Notes
• Index