THEORY

Critical exploration and development of Marxist feminist theory.

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WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: Engels on the Origin of Women’s Oppression

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…

Sex Work Is Not Work: A Marxist Feminist Analysis of Prostitution – PART III

Part III: We cannot abstract labour from its social context ‘value converts every product into a social hieroglyphic.’ Marx, Capital Vol I In light of the enormous sex disparity between producers and consumers within the sex industry(majority female sellers; majority male buyers), prostitution and other ‘sex work’ cannot be considered outside of its historical, material,…

Lesbian Politics and the Limits of Liberalism

Women’s economic dependence on men historically ensured that women married. Marriage was, and is still today, seen as aspiration for women and a way to access material wealth and secure basic sustenance. Though in the last half century due to the women’s movements of the 1960s and 1970s, women’s ability to sustain themselves economically has…

Sex Work Is Not Work: A Marxist Feminist Analysis of Prostitution – PART II

Part II: Can ‘sex work’ be considered ‘labour’? ‘all [commodities] are reduced to one and the same sort of labour, human labour in the abstract.’ Marx, Capital Vol I Marx tells us that ‘human labour power’ is expended in the production of commodities — that ‘human labour is embodied in them’ — and that it…

Sex Work Is Not Work: A Marxist Feminist Analysis of Prostitution – PART I

Part I: Can sex be considered a commodity? ‘A commodity appears, at first sight, a very trivial thing, and easily understood. Its analysis shows that it is, in reality, a very queer thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.’ Marx, Capital Vol I In an attempt to move beyond the moralism that frequently surrounds…

Marxist Feminism Part III: Division of Labour

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,…

Marxist Feminism Part II: Social Reproduction

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…

Marxist Feminism Part I: Fragmented Feminism

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…

Book Launch: Women & Class

Women and Class frames women’s oppression as central to the struggle against capitalism and oppression. It is essential reading for all communists and feminists alike. In this article, Professor Mary Davis introduces the latest edition of her book, Women and Class. Buy your copy here. The aim of this book is to assert and consolidate…

Prostitution or Sex Work? Language Matters

The term ‘sex work’ has come to replace the word ‘prostitution’ in contemporary discussions on the subject. This is not accidental. The phrase ‘sex work’ has been adopted by liberal feminists and powerful lobbyists in a deliberate attempt to steer the narrative on prostitution. Smoke and Mirrors Superficially, the term ‘sex work’ is intended to…

Where Did Gender Identity Come From?

The term ‘gender identity’ was coined by psychologist and researcher, Dr. John Money, founder of the first gender clinic at John Hopkins Hospital in 1966. ‘Gender identity’ first appeared in print on November 21st 1966, in the press release announcing the creation of the clinic. Money would go on to develop his theory of gender…

From Foucault to San Francisco: The Enduring Roots of Queer Theory

Today Queer Theory is taught within the Humanities subjects of the Western academy as a matter of consensus, but its historical roots half a century ago tend not to be included on the syllabus. We must ask how did Queer Theory originate? How did the prominence of queer thinkers on sexuality come about? Prior to…

The Gender Debate: A Marxist Feminist Perspective

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…

Women, Class and Gender – a Communist Perspective

International Women’s Day (IWD) has become a corporate event reflecting the now mainstream ideology of ‘corporate feminism’. This year its theme is #BalanceforBetter. The anonymous organisers of IWD events assert that ‘balance’ is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue and thus their ‘flagship events are backed by significant corporate and/or government sponsorship’. Sponsors…

Gender Identity and Capitalism

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…