Sophie Lewis (author)

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Sophie Lewis, photographed by Thom Wall, Philadelphia, 2022.

Sophie Lewis (born 1988) is a German-British pro-trans queer feminist writer and independent scholar based in Philadelphia, USA, known for her anti-state communist feminism, literary criticism, and cultural analysis, especially her critical-utopian theorization of "full surrogacy", her idea that "all reproduction is assisted" as well as "amniotechnics," and her advocacy for "abolition of the family."[1] Lewis's personal website describes her as a "recovering academic."[2]

In 2019, Lewis was commissioned to write an op-ed in the New York Times to explain "How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans," where she proposed that the reason for the UK's trans-exclusionary radical feminism is its history of imperialism.[3] Also in 2019, the far-right American TV pundit Tucker Carlson invited Lewis on his show to discuss her advocacy for abortion rights and reproductive freedom; but she replied that she would only come on the show if Carlson donated $10,000 to the Alabama abortion fund Yellowhammer. (Instead, the Tucker Carlson Show aired public-domain footage of Lewis speaking about the right to not be pregnant - resulting in her getting dogpiled by "pro-life" activists.)[4][5][6] Her essay "Mothering Against the World: Mothering Against Motherhood" has been made into a zine by an anarchist collective. In 2022, Lewis was featured on the BBC radio program Sideways, "It Takes A Village."[7]

Lewis gained further notoriety in September 2020 when she tweeted about the multispecies erotic dynamics in the Netflix documentary "My Octopus Teacher," an controversy she later referred to as "octopusgate" in an essay published in n+1 magazine: "My Octopus Girlfriend" (2021).[8][9] Lewis has published many essays since 2013, on topics ranging from Marilyn Monroe to tradwives, in magazines including Harper's, the London Review of Books, Boston Review, faz quarterly, Logic, The Baffler, Lux, Parapraxis, Tank, The Nation, e-flux, Mal, Dissent, The New Inquiry, Jacobin, The White Review, and Salvage. Lewis has published two books through Verso Books; Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism against the Family, published in 2019, and Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation, published in October 2022.[10] Her third book, Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation, is published by Haymarket Books in February 2025.[11]

Biography[edit]

Born in Vienna,[12] Lewis was raised in France. She has described her childhood experiences in a series of personal essays concerning her family and, later, about the death of her mother Ingrid Helga Lewis (which occurred in 2019).[13][14][15]

Between 2007 and 2011 she studied at the University of Oxford, achieving a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature, and a Master's degree in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy. She further completed, in 2011-2013, a Master's in Politics at The New School in New York City, on a Fulbright Scholarship, and then received ESRC funding to pursue a PhD in human geography between 2013 and 2017, at the University of Manchester. Lewis' PhD thesis, entitled Cyborg Labour: Exploring Surrogacy as Gestational Work, focused on the political economy of the surrogacy industry. After completing her PhD, Lewis published her first book, Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism against the Family, which was followed by Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation in October 2022.

Lewis is based in Philadelphia; she is a free-lance writer with an unpaid affiliation as a visiting scholar at the Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies (FQT Center) at the University of Pennsylvania.[16] Dr Lewis also teaches online courses on critical theory for the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.[17] Having departed formal academia, Lewis makes a living as a "para-academic" and cultural critic supported by speaking gigs and her Patreon members.[18]

Lewis's peer-reviewed papers have appeared in the journals Feminist Theory, Paragraph, Feminist Review, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Frontiers: Journal of Women's Studies, Gender Place & Culture and Dialogues in Human Geography (in the latter journal. Lewis' paper ‘Cyborg Uterine Geography" is the anchor for a response forum).

Lewis's German-English translations for MIT Press include A Brief History of Feminism (Antje Schrupp) and Communism for Kids (Bini Adamczak).[19] Her translation of Sabine Hark and Paula-Irene Villa’s book The Future of Difference: Beyond the Toxic Entanglement of Racism, Sexism and Feminism was published by Verso Books in 2020. Lewis also translated Bini Adamczak's queer feminist theorization of "the antonym of penetration," the essay "On Circlusion."[20] In 2022, Lewis wrote: "I was, in retrospect, clearly inspired by circlusion when I wrote “Amniotechnics.”[21]

Lewis is a member of the ecological writing collective Out of the Woods, whose edited collection Hope Against Hope: Writings on Ecological Crisis is published by Common Notions.

Views and reception[edit]

Lewis has been described as operating "a strikingly hopeful feminist Marxism."[22] She advocates for children's liberation, communization, family abolition, a free Palestine, trans rights, and climate justice. Her views have been discussed in conversations on podcasts including: This is Hell!, The New Books Network, Verso, Hotel Bar Sessions, The Death Panel, Big Mood, Little Mood with Daniel Lavery, The Podcast for Social Research, The Heteropessimists, Ordinary Unhappiness, e-flux, The LRB Bookshop, Politics Theory Other, The Dig with Daniel Denvir (Jacobin), Against Everything with Conner Habib, The Final Straw, Rabbles, and The Good Robot.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]

Contrary to some people's belief, Lewis does not advocate for commercial gestational surrogacy. Instead, according to the academic Natalie Suzelis, "Lewis builds upon Kalindi Vora’s analysis of the surrogacy industry by using it to highlight the contradictions of capitalist reproduction."[35] The journalist Marie Solis in VICE explains that "Lewis imagines a future where the labor of making new human beings is shared among all of us, “mother” no longer being a natural category, but instead something we can choose."[36]

Feminist academics have generally praised Lewis. For example, the historian Erin Maglaque thinks that "Sophie Lewis is our most eloquent, furious and funny critic of how the family is a terrible way to satisfy all of our desires for love, care, nourishment."[37] The philosopher Amia Srinivasan has said that "Sophie Lewis is, as always, sharp, bold, compassionate and fearless."[38]The journalist Melissa Gira Grant opines, "Sophie Lewis and her expansive vision of feminism are desperately needed right now. She makes the work of undoing what 'womanhood' has come to mean look possible and irresistible."[39] The transgender novelist and professor Jordy Rosenberg writes: "Sophie Lewis is at the forefront of a vital queer, trans, feminist communist movement to create an expansive field of revolutionary theory and strategy for today."[40] And the transgender theorist Paul Preciado says: “Sophie Lewis is at the top of a new generation of scholars and activists thinking the transformation of gestational labor within contemporary pharmacopornographic capitalism."[41] Finally, the author of the Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway, describes Full Surrogacy Now as: "the seriously radical cry for full gestational justice that I long for."[42] Positive reviews have also been posted in magazines like the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, and the Times Literary Supplement, as well as blogs like LibCom.[43] Lewis's work has attracted a bit of international press in Germany, Scandinavia, Spain, Austria, Korea, Latin America, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic.

Right-wing and religious commentators have written scathing reviews of Lewis, for instance Mary Harrington, Ben Sixsmith. Also, some more centrist, left-leaning, and social-democratic commentators have been very critical of her work, for example: Amber A'Lee Frost, Nina Power, Elizabeth Bruenig, Tom Whyman, Noelle Bodick, Angela Nagle, Nivedita Majumdar and Antonella Gambotto-Burke. Largely because of her views that "children don't belong to anyone" and "children belong to us all," Lewis has attracted a lot of criticism - as described by Richard Seymour in his essay "Notes on a Normie Shit-Storm."[44]

At the same time, Lewis has been invited to lecture on family abolitionism in many countries around the world and she has appeared on dozens of radio shows.[45][46][47][48] Abolish the Family has been translated into Spanish, Catalan, German, Greek, Turkish, French, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, Czech, and French. Full Surrogacy Now has been translated into Spanish, Korean, Romanian and Portuguese.

Publications[edit]

  • Lewis, Sophie (2019). Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family. Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-78663-731-4. OCLC 1127958624.
  • — (2022). Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation. Verso Books. ISBN 9781839767197.
  • Lewis, Sophie (2025) Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation. ISBN: 9798888902493.[49]

References[edit]

  1. ^ 45: The Fantasy of Family and the Meaning of Family Abolition feat. Sophie Lewis and M.E. O'Brien - Ordinary Unhappiness. Retrieved 2024-05-20 – via ordinaryunhappiness.buzzsprout.com.
  2. ^ "Sophie Lewis – Writer, Theorist, Teacher". Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  3. ^ Lewis, Sophie (2019-02-07). "Opinion | How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  4. ^ "Hello to My Haters: Tucker Carlson's Mob and Me". Dissent Magazine. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  5. ^ "x.com". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  6. ^ Verso Books (2019-06-04). A radical defence of abortion | Sophie Lewis. Retrieved 2024-05-20 – via YouTube.
  7. ^ "Sideways - 34. It Takes a Village". www.listenersguide.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  8. ^ "x.com". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  9. ^ "My Octopus Girlfriend | Sophie Lewis". n+1. 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  10. ^ "Lewis, Sophie". Verso. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  11. ^ Lewis, Sophie. "Enemy Feminisms". haymarketbooks.org. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  12. ^ Solis, Marie (21 February 2022). "We Can't Have a Feminist Future Without Abolishing the Family". Vice. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Caren Allstrich". Parapraxis. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  14. ^ "With-Women: Grieving in Capitalist Time - Journal #111". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  15. ^ Lewis, Sophie A. (January 2023). "Mothering against motherhood: doula work, xenohospitality and the idea of the momrade". Feminist Theory. 24 (1): 68–85. doi:10.1177/14647001211059520. ISSN 1464-7001.
  16. ^ "Sophie Lewis". Verso Books. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  17. ^ "Sophie Lewis". Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  18. ^ Official website
  19. ^ Ritner, Jesse (2019-02-27). "A Brief History of Feminism by Patu (illustrations) and Antje Schrupp and translated by Sophie Lewis (2017)". Not Even Past. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  20. ^ Lewis, Sophie; Adamczak, Bini (2022-08-22). "Six years (and counting) of circlusion". The New Inquiry. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  21. ^ Lewis, Sophie; Adamczak, Bini (2022-08-22). "Six years (and counting) of circlusion". The New Inquiry. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  22. ^ Boyd, Hanne Blank (2023-08-25). "'Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation' by Sophie Lewis". LIBER Review. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  23. ^ "Abolish the Family / Sophie Lewis". This Is Hell!. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  24. ^ "Sophie Lewis, "Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation" (Verso, 2022)". New Books Network. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  25. ^ Abolish the Family | Sophie Lewis speaks to Ben Smoke, retrieved 2024-05-20
  26. ^ "Episode 84: Abolition of the Family (with Sophie Lewis) – Hotel Bar Podcast". Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  27. ^ "Death Panel: Teaser - The Machine for the Individual w/ Sophie Lewis (10/24/22) on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  28. ^ Seeking Stable Chosen Family, 2021-06-25, retrieved 2024-05-20
  29. ^ Episode Five: Domestic Ecologies and Family Abolition, 2022-07-21, retrieved 2024-05-20
  30. ^ Otto, Mark (2019-07-11). "Abolish the Family with Sophie Lewis". The Dig. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  31. ^ "Abortion, Family, Queerness and Private Property with Sophie Lewis | The Final Straw Radio Podcast". 2022-07-10. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  32. ^ "The Good Robot : Sophie Lewis on Techno-Feminisms and Why Nature is Far Stranger Than We Think sur Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts (in French). Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  33. ^ Ordinary Unhappiness (2024-03-16). 45: The Fantasy of Family and the Meaning of Family Abolition feat. Sophie Lewis and M.E. O'Brien. Retrieved 2024-05-20 – via YouTube.
  34. ^ Other, Politics Theory (2024-04-17). "Israel and the history of imperial feminism w/ Sophie Lewis Politics Theory Other Podcast". Podtail (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  35. ^ "Surrogacy, Value, and Social Reproduction: A Review of Full Surrogacy Now | Mediations | Journal of the Marxist Literary Group". mediationsjournal.org. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  36. ^ Solis, Marie (2020-02-21). "We Can't Have a Feminist Future Without Abolishing the Family". Vice. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  37. ^ Maglaque, Erin (2022-09-23). "Red love, for all". New Statesman. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  38. ^ Lewis, Sophie. "Enemy Feminisms". haymarketbooks.org. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  39. ^ "Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family – Sophie Lewis". Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  40. ^ "Abolish the Family". Verso. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  41. ^ Lewis, Sophie (2022-10-04). Abolish the Family | Sophie Lewis | London Review Bookshop. Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-83976-719-7.
  42. ^ "Full Surrogacy Now". ICI Berlin. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  43. ^ "Quick positive comments on Abolish the Family by Sophie Lewis | libcom.org". libcom.org. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  44. ^ Seymour, Richard (2022-01-27). "Abolition: Notes on a Normie Shitstorm by Richard Seymour". Salvage. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  45. ^ "Family abolition the focus of upcoming lecture by Sophie Lewis | Society for the Humanities". societyhumanities.as.cornell.edu. 2023-02-21. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  46. ^ "Youth Liberation and Family Abolition: Forgotten Histories of Revolutionary Reproductive Politics". University of Rochester Calendar. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  47. ^ Amsterdam, Universiteit van (2024-01-25). "Familism versus Gender Freedom? 200 Years of Western Struggles over the Family - ARC-GS". Amsterdam Research Center for Gender and Sexuality - University of Amsterdam. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  48. ^ "A Happy Ending for the Capitalist Family". www.rektoverso.be. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  49. ^ Lewis, Sophie (18 February 2025). Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation. Chicago: Haymarket Books. ISBN 9798888902493.

External links[edit]

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