Wittig, Monique (1935—2003) French feminism critic and author, and a self-described radical lesbian. Wittig’s work argues that the concept of ‘woman’ is a heterosexual construct. Thus, a lesbian is not a woman, she claims, because her position outside of the heterosexual matrix means she is no longer defined by the heterosexual norm. Therefore that construction of both her gender and her sexuality does not apply. Her best-known works are Le Corps lesbien (1973), translated as The Lesbian Body (1975) and The Straight Mind and Other Essays (1992). Wittig left France in 1976 and moved to the US and started writing in English. Further Reading: N. Shaktini On Monique Wittig (2005).