Letters
Abolish gender
Comrade Paul Demarty’s article was a welcome breath of fresh air (‘Getting out of the culture wars’, December 10). As a 19-year-old communist, my entire
political life has existed under the shadow of identity politics and the question of gender. It was therefore extremely uplifting to read an analysis identical to the one I have been putting forward to various comrades at the last two Communist Universities: destroy the social construct of gender.
It has always surprised me how some veteran comrades fall into the trap of reaction - on both sides of the current debate - rather than adopting a historical, and indeed Marxist, understanding of gender. Whilst the content of its function in a society may necessarily stay the same, the form it takes is socially malleable. Much like class, gender is not necessary for society - let alone human existence. By altering its form and resolving its contradictions, the social foundations of its content disappear and are essentially abolished.