Social Revolution and Sexual Revolution

Abstract

Marx claimed that from the sexual relationship "one can…judge man's whole level of development…[T]he relationship of man to woman is the most natural relation of human being to human being. It therefore reveals the extent to which man's natural behavior has become human." The women's liberation movement has provided ample evidence that in our society this relationship is one of inequality, one in which the woman is used as an object, and one which does not bring much satisfaction to either party. As predicted, these same qualities can be observed throughout capitalist life. Inequality, people treating each other as objects, as instances of a kind (not taking another's unique, personalizing characteristics into account), and the general frustration that results are major features in the alienation described by Marx.

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