July 2001

For Marxists, the root cause of all forms of oppression consists in the division of
society into classes. For many feminists, on the other hand, the oppression of
women is rooted in the nature of men. It is not a social but a biological
phenomenon. This is an entirely static, unscientific and undialectical
conception of the human race. It is an unhistorical vision of the human
condition, from which profoundly pessimistic conclusions must flow. For if we
accept that there is something inherent in men which causes them to
oppress women, it is difficult to see how the present situation will ever be
remedied. The conclusion must be that the oppression of women by men
has always existed and therefore, presumably, will always exist.