User:Jlschell/sandbox

Education [ edit]
Firestone attended Telshe Yeshiva nearby Cleveland. She then attended Washington University in St. Louis and in 1967 received a degree in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). While in Chicago she started her first Women's Liberation group, Westside.

Radical Feminism[ edit]
Firestone was considered a radical feminist because she believed that the oppression of women is directly related to patriarchal western society. She was also heavily influenced by socialism and the work of Karl Mark and Frederick Engels. In The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution she states, "Feminists have to question, not just all of Western culture, but the organization of culture itself, and further, even the organization of nature." One of her radical beliefs was that she believed that women's oppression was acted out through control over women's bodies. In The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (1970), she argues that we should invest in advanced technology in order to free women from childbirth.[citation needed] Her perspectives surrounding childbirth line up with the radical feminist thought at the time. Her perspectives in The Dialectic of Sex can also be seen as a precursor to cyberfeminism. Furthermore, her actions as a part of various feminist groups were seen as radical, as they addressed issues around women's lives that were not discussed, especially by women. Some of these topics include the female orgasm as well as abortion.

The Dialect of Sex
The Dialectic of Sex is still used in many women's studies programs. Its recommendations, such as raising children in a gender neutral fashion, mirror the ideals Firestone set out to achieve. Many of the main ideas within the book are still prominent in the feminist debate on the use of technology advancements in reproduction. The work of Shulamith Firestone is considered an origin to the combination of science and technology with critical thinking from a feminist lens. Her ideas are still shared and discussed including her belief of the necessity for more women to pursue careers in engineering and science. Firestone's views can also be found in scientific advancements such as the production of artificial sperm and eggs and how their production may lead to the elimination of differences between the sexes.

Cyberfeminism and Xenofeminism
The Dialectic of Sex also has a legacy in the branch of feminism known as cyberfeminism. Her book was a precursor to contemporary activities by cyberfeminists. Specifically it was Firestone's argument that women needed technology in order to free themselves from the obligation of reproducing. Firestone was an important theoretician who connected gender inequities to the view of women as purely child bearers, and she pushed for the increase in technology to abolish gender oppression. The ideas that Shulamith presented about technology differed to those of many other writers during her time, as she introduced technology as a tool to help ignite a feminist revolution, rather than act as a form of male violence. Firestone's work helped to spread a discourse on the general ideals of cyberfeminism. Shulamith Firestone also became a predecessor to Donna Haraway, and her cyberfeminist texts. Both of their works have similar views and aspirations, as they both address biology and are attempting to eliminate it through the use of technology. The two women envisioned a future in which individuals are more androgynous and the views of the female body are reconstructed. Similarly the works also connect how these changes affect or would affect labor roles. Shulamith's book created an understanding for gender transformation, and these themes are still a basis of cyberfeminist writing presently.

Themes in The Dialectic of Sex have ties to xenofeminism as well. FIrestone's desire to free women from the burden of reproduction and eliminate the use of sex organs to define an individual's identity has connections to the ambition of xenofeminists to create a society in which all individuals are not assigned traits based on their supposed sex. Helen Hester, one of the members who helped write The Xenofeminism Manifesto, related her contributions to the ideas on feminism and technology presented by Firestone. She even coined Shulamith as one of the key theorists who contributed to the xenofeminism discourse.

"Shulie"
During her studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Firestone was the subject of a student documentary film. Never released, the film was rediscovered in the 1990s by experimental filmmaker Elisabeth Subrin, who did a frame-by-frame reshoot of the original documentary. It was released in 1997 as Shulie, winning two awards, including the 1998 Los Angeles Film Critics Association award. The film depicts Firestone as a young student and her journey into becoming one of the most notable second-wave feminists and feminist authors of the 20th century. In 1998, the film was honored with the Independent/Experimental Film and Video Award by the Los Angeles Film-Critics Association, receiving acknowledgement alongside films like "Saving Private Ryan", A Bug's Life, and Rushmore. Two years later, the documentary received the "Experimental Award" from the New England Film and Video Festival. The documentary was praised by The New Yorker for its use of dialectical thought (a concept derived from Firestone's work) in the production of a film set decades prior to its filming.