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Bringing back this socialist feminist thread:
As marxist feminists, we seek not only to describe gender but to change it.
with this goal, our focus is on the material & historical relationships that forged the dominant understanding of gender in our society.
As marxist feminists, we seek not only to describe gender but to change it.
with this goal, our focus is on the material & historical relationships that forged the dominant understanding of gender in our society.
a feminist perspective here means simply that gender matters, leaving it out of analysis isn't missing nuance but part of the core. this is because in capitalist society gender oppression, like national oppression, is inseparable from the larger economic system it built & enables
capitalism has utilized & fostered a division of labor, parsing out unwaged reproductive labor from productive waged work. reproductive labor provides necessities of survival, preparing food, basic home healthcare & cleanliness, even creating life itself.
this division subsidizes a productive labor force, grows its capacity & ensures its continuation for capitalists to exploit. think how much time & energy it takes to raise children, someone working 60 hrs a week cant do it alone &having someone do it for free is preferred.
often, like particularly & historically for Black women, reproductive & productive labor have been taken on as a double burden. the course of exploitation isnt the exact same for all women. those of us who dont fit certain criteria often arent even considered "women" at all
what does it mean to be an acceptable “woman” in this society? meek, white, cis & fragile: the aristocratic standard of "femininity" & any deviations from it are all heavily policed. this dehumanizes every one of us
our conceptions of gender, as much as the u.s. economy, have been shaped through slavery, colonialism & genocide. looting of whole continents was justified through colonial ideology. this radically altered both the world & what people knew about themselves
these violent seizures of land, people & already existing material wealth were all part of whats called an original accumulation of capital. capitalism is not racist & patriarchal just through unfortunate inheritances but has been integrated fully into its birth & growth.
the struggle against patriarchy is to end the exploitation of gender oppressed people, historical materialism shows us how. socialist feminism is the deepening of revolutionary struggle, to win democracy for ALL whose labor is most exploited under capitalism.
while our theory intersects race & gender, historical materialism fully illuminates these social categories: they are not innate nor eternal! gender is a powerful social reality, but revolutionary theory states if the categories of gender are made then we can also unmake them
creating a new society doesnt happen just in our hearts & minds but through dismantling every structure that replicates the old. for a socialist feminist revolution that means all people able to do so should share equitably the labor of care..
..along with free & equal access to jobs, childcare, healthcare, education, parental leave, & full democratic representation in government.
patriarchy creates barriers, harassment & violent repression at every level of every institution for gender oppressed people
patriarchy creates barriers, harassment & violent repression at every level of every institution for gender oppressed people
it’s only when the patriarchal state is smashed, may we build a new society to allow any number of gender expressions to flourish—free from state-sanctioned violence, the barbaric enforcement of a gender binary, & from hyper-exploitation based on perceived reproductive capacity.
