A Critical Approach to Marx and Feminism
Heterosexuality is undoubtedly necessary for the social and sexual reproduction of existing social conditions. For this reason, some radical feminists make the mistake of classifying heterosexuality as an institution — but this is an error. Instead, heterosexuality is institutionalised across all material and ideological state apparatus: education, the family, medicine, religion, etc. As society has... Continue Reading →
Though the coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate public attention, rising rates of domestic abuse, rape and femicide suggests that women are experiencing a dangerous and deadly pandemic of our own: misogyny. However, data from the Office for National Statistics shows that while the rate of male homicide victims is on the decline, the number of... Continue Reading →
The great significance of Friedrich Engels’s Origin of the Family, Private Property & the State is that it is one of the first Marxist analyses of development of family and origins of women’s oppression (the first was August Bebel’s Women & Socialism, 1879) — a subject in which most men were uninterested. A Short Summary... Continue Reading →
Today, the verdict of a judicial review ruled that is ‘highly unlikely’ that 13 year old children can give informed consent to puberty blockers and that it is ‘doubtful’ that 14 and 15 year old children can ‘understand and weigh the long term risks and consequences’ of such medication. The ruling also recognised that, even... Continue Reading →
This article is part of a series. Read Part I here. Read Part II here. In The Origin of the Family, Engels attributes the ‘world historical defeat of the female sex’ to a single event: the overthrow of matriarchal lineage. This achieved male control over paternity and sexual reproduction — the original means of production. Through this new,... Continue Reading →
This article is part of a series. Read Part I here. Rejecting dualist and identity approaches to women's politics, Marxist feminists argue that the domestic sphere and the capitalist mode of production are not separate, autonomous systems; but that social reproduction (including the vast amount of unpaid work which takes place outside the workplace) is... Continue Reading →
The left is plagued by a paternalism which treats feminist issues and organising with condescension at best; at worst, with contempt. This attitude demonstrates not only the prevalence of individual prejudices towards women but, more importantly, a significant theoretical misunderstanding which fails to adequately consider the totality of the capitalist mode of production. Due to... Continue Reading →
The North East already has already some of the worse of the cuts and a huge lack of investment. Working class communities such as Sunderland, Hartlepool, Northumberland, and Co. Durham have suffered hugely over the decades with loss of industry and lack of real investment – Under Thatcher, New Labour and now the Tory government.... Continue Reading →
This article is written in response to an article entitled ‘Are All Marxist Feminists TERFs?’. The article can be found here. The author of the above article argues that Marxist feminists (or ‘Red TERFs’) deny the ‘actual lived experiences’ of transwomen. Not only is this ironic, as gender identity theorists regularly dismiss women’s extensive lived experiences of male violence and... Continue Reading →
Clearly there are different sides and many nuances within this debate, which is often beset by a wave of intolerance that not only clouds the subject but, from a Marxist perspective, diverts us from objective substantive analysis. The essence of the problem is a failure to understand two underlying issues. First, there is a confusion... Continue Reading →