Virginie Despentes Non-Fiction books in order

King Kong Theory is Virginie Despentes's 2006 feminist manifesto — a short, fierce work of essay writing that argues from autobiographical experience that mainstream feminism has failed to address rape, sex work, and working-class women's realities. Widely translated and now taught in gender studies programs internationally, it remains the clearest statement of the ideas that run through all of her fiction.
Series · Non-Fiction · Feminist Literature · Cultural Criticism · Essays

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 King Kong Theory 2006 Virginie Despentes Buy

King Kong Theory arrived in 2006 and immediately became a point of reference in French feminist discussion. Despentes begins from the position that she is writing for women who do not fit the profile of typical feminist advocacy — not educated, not middle-class, not heterosexual, not safe. She draws on her own experience of rape, sex work, and social marginalization to argue that these experiences are more common and more central than the feminist mainstream has wanted to acknowledge.

The book is short and written fast, with the same directness that runs through her fiction. It does not make arguments cautiously; it makes them loudly and expects pushback. Its title refers to King Kong as a figure of outsider power — the creature that dominant society cannot accommodate and so destroys. Translated into over twenty languages, it is frequently assigned in university courses alongside more academic texts in gender studies.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Virginie Despentes Non-Fiction series?

There are one books in the Virginie Despentes Non-Fiction series, published in 2006.

What is the first book in the Virginie Despentes Non-Fiction series?

The first book in the Virginie Despentes Non-Fiction series is King Kong Theory, published in 2006.

What is King Kong Theory about?

King Kong Theory is a collection of essays in which Despentes uses her own biography — working-class upbringing, gang rape at 17, years in sex work — to argue that dominant feminist conversation addresses only the concerns of educated, middle-class women and ignores everyone else. She takes on rape culture, the stigma of sex work, the violence of gender norms for both women and men, and what she calls feminist victimhood — the idea that women are defined by what is done to them rather than what they choose. The book is combative and deliberately readable rather than academic in style.

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