The Sexual Contract

Explain how social contract theory legitimizes the authority of the state. What does Pateman’s illumination of the sexual contract suggest about the structure of state authority and the institutionalization of patriarchy?

As Pateman points out the political fictions of contract theory, it becomes clear that theorists have used the idea of contract to justify white male (and capitalist) domination in civil society. Explain how the political fictions of contract theory attempt to resolve the contradictions of a free and equal society that is characterized by relations of domination and subordination.

Using evidence from the text, explain the transformation of patriarchy from traditional paternal political right to modern fraternal political right. How does this transformation help conceal that modern civil society is structured by patriarchy?