Toward the Practice of Theory in Practice

Materialist feminism 'deconstructs the mythic subject Woman to look at women as a class oppressed by material conditions and social relations' (Dolan, 1988, p. 10). Austin 0990, p. 5) notes that the materialist position gives prominent attention to questions of race, class, and sexual preference, which are largely absent in the first two. From this position, not only are the effects of patriarchy examined, but the reification of women is made problematic as are the inner workings of the apparatus, class, and state. Closely aligned with a poststructuralist view, gender is seen as a cultural construction with multiple meanings and, therefore, multiple truths.