File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/97-03-31.182, message 56


Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 16:37:05 -0500
From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood-AT-panix.com>
Subject: M-I: sex


Mark Jones wrote:

>This means first of all that the social emancipation of
>women is at root a class not a gender issue. So women's issues
>cannot be dealt with separate from or in priority to
>working class issues.

The Marxian thing to do would be to look at how workers' labor is
partitioned by sex. You can't do that without noticing that men and women
have been positioned very differently in the social division of labor. So
how can't "women's issues" be "separate from ... working class issues"?
Clearly there's a sex-specific division of labor. As for "priority to" -
Marxists look at the social totality, aiming to eliminate exploitation and
create a classless communal society. Sex relations are an essential part of
that - there's no question of "priority" about it.

And should Marxists be silent about non-class issues like physical abuse,
or even verbal abuse, such as Mark Jones exhibited just a week or two ago?

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217 USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice  +1-212-874-3137 fax
email: <mailto:dhenwood-AT-panix.com>
web: <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html>




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