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MIM Theory Volume Two/Three: Revolutionary Feminism Published by: Maoist Internationalist Movement Summer/Fall, 1992 Republished by: Alyx Mayer & Felix Brown Summer, 2016 Contents Contents 4 I Editor’s Introduction 9 1 Introduction 10 1.1 Republishing notes . 10 2 Notes to this issue 13 2.1 MIM’s pseudonyms . 13 2.2 Additional credit . 14 II Gender and Revolutionary Feminism 15 3 Introduction 16 3.1 A Rating for Enver Hoxha . 17 3.2 Labor Aristocracy Continued . 20 3.3 Letters . 31 4 Women’s Lib: What Works and What Doesn’t 48 4.1 The Road To Women’s Liberation: Idealism vs. Materialism . 48 4.2 National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) Advertisement . 50 4.3 Albania and Women . 53 4.4 What Didn’t Work in China . 56 4.5 No Gains for Women in Taiwan . 61 4.6 Jiang Qing, Great Revolutionary Leader . 63 4 CONTENTS 5 4.7 Jiang Qing’s Post-1949 Accomplishments: Party Posts and Move- ment Leadership . 77 4.8 Soviets Embrace New Freedom to Objectify Women . 78 4.9 Revolution and Violence Against Women . 79 4.10 Revolution: The Only Effective Way to End Women’s Oppression 96 4.11 Reforming Capitalism: The Ultimate Defeatism . 99 4.12 Abolish Psychology . 100 5 The Issue of Tone and Approach 120 5.1 Tone and “Macho” . 120 5.2 Substituting Identity for Analysis . 124 5.3 Politically Correct Language . 127 5.4 Rationalists and Mystics . 129 5.5 On Arrogance and Revolution . 133 6 Anita Hill vs. Clarence Thomas 140 6.1 Clarence Thomas vs. Anita Hill: MIM’s Internal Struggle . 140 6.2 The Two-Line Struggle on Gender: Paternalism vs. Anti-Paternalism 152 6.3 “Doesn’t MIM Notes Art Attack Hill?” . 160 6.4 To Tell the Truth . 163 7 The Theories 169 7.1 Class, Nation and Gender . 169 7.2 Reductionist Approach to Feminism . 172 7.3 The Autonomous Position on Intersections . 174 7.4 Overdetermination Position . 182 7.5 Definitions and Position: The Three Main Strands of Oppression .188 7.6 Polemics . 191 7.7 Against Reductionism . 195 7.8 Diagrams of Gender Oppression: A Picture Saves a Hundred Pages 200 7.9 Class as a candidate for principal contradiction in the United States 201 8 Intersections of Nation, Class and Gender 204 8.1 Firestorm Over Criticizing Existing Feminism . 204 8.2 The Myth of the Black Rapist . 208 8.3 Using Women of Color for an Individualist, Pseudo-Feminist Agenda 212 CONTENTS 6 8.4 A Re-examination of the Shield Laws . 216 8.5 Sentencing Bias in the United States . 218 8.6 MacKinnon’s Flawed Methodology: China 1986-1988 . 219 8.7 Book Review: Between Feminism and Labor: The Significance of the Comparable Worth Movement . 229 8.8 Unremunerated Work . 233 8.9 Black Panther Party Paved the Way . 235 9 Focus on Gender: Sexual Politics 244 9.1 Is there good sex in an imperialist society or is all sex rape? . 244 9.2 Sexual Attraction and Sexual Harassment . 246 9.3 MIM Tells: How to Pick a Good Marriage . 251 9.4 Cheating: More Proof that Coercion Underlies all Sex . 254 9.5 Ideology vs. Theory: The Case of Rape . 257 9.6 Theory vs. Biology . 261 9.7 Another Gutsy Quotation from MacKinnon: The Strength of First World Women . 262 9.8 Marriage and Murder . 267 9.9 Philosophical Idealism: A Deep Root of Paternalism . 267 9.10 RCP and MIM Split over Homosexuality . 268 9.11 Gender Correspondence . 270 9.12 Romance, Gender and the Party . 276 9.13 Pornography in Prison . 282 9.14 NO to Pornography . 284 9.15 Party Building Requires Policy on Romance and Gender . 286 9.16 Might Agree with the RCP? . 293 9.17 Longtime Coming—Too Little, Too Late . 295 9.18 Marriage as Slavery? . 297 9.19 MIM for Monogamy . 299 9.20 A Cultural Revolution to End Patriarchy . 301 9.21 Cops Crack Down on Gays . 304 9.22 Is Monogamy the Best Practice for Lesbians and Gays? . 307 9.23 Monogamy Debated . 309 9.24 Challenge Compulsory Heterosexuality . 312 9.25 Gender and Revolution . 314 CONTENTS 7 9.26 Marital Rape in China . 316 9.27 NO Means YES Confuses Liberals . 317 9.28 Thelma & Louise is Close . 320 9.29 Madonna Dares to Exploit the Subordination of Women for Personal Gain . 322 9.30 Spike: YES to Monogamy . 322 9.31 TV with a Pro-Gay Image? . 323 9.32 Sterilize all Men! . 325 9.33 Sterilize all Men: Response . 326 9.34 Roe vs. Wade is Not Feminism: Power Struggle Not Privacy . 327 9.35 Abortion “Rights” and Free Speech . 330 9.36 Silicone Breast Implants . 333 9.37 Pseudo-Feminism: A New Assertion of Femininity . 337 9.38 Redstockings: Maoist Feminists of the 1960s . 344 9.39 Recent Roots of the MIM View . 347 9.40 Comments on Marlene Dixon’s “Women in Class Struggle” . 351 9.41 Anarchist Feminism vs. Marxist–Leninist–Maoist Feminism . 355 9.42 The Independent Woman: Pseudo-Feminism on Homophobia . 359 9.43 Anarchist Feminism Misses the Revolution . 361 9.44 White Privilege Exposed . 364 10 Feminist “Icons” 366 10.1 Betty Friedan’s Work Reviewed . 366 10.2 Gloria Steinem . 382 10.3 Book Review: Feminism Unmodified . 387 10.4 Book Review: Toward a Feminist Theory of the State . 398 III Cultural and Sectarian Reviews 405 11 Magazine Reviews 406 11.1 The Fab Feminist ‘Zine . 407 11.2 Wingspan: Journal of the Male Spirit . 411 11.3 off our backs . .413 11.4 “The Last Days of Madame Mao” . 414 CONTENTS 8 12 Book Reviews 418 12.1 Backlash, the Undeclared War Against American Women . 418 12.2 Jung & Feminism: Liberating Archetypes . 422 12.3 Fasting Girls: The Emergence of Anorexia Nervosa as a Modern Disease . 433 13 Film and Video Reviews 438 13.1 Barbarian Queen . 438 13.2 Starship . 440 13.3 The Little Thief . 441 13.4 Little Vera . 442 13.5 The Handmaid’s Tale . 442 13.6 Swept Away . 443 13.7 The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover . 446 13.8 Mo’ Better Blues . 447 13.9 Wild At Heart . 451 Part I Editor’s Introduction 9 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Republishing notes Alyx Mayer and Felix Brown would like to express comradely thanks to the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons (MIM Prisons) for their scan of the original MIM Theory documents, and their work in continuing the spirit of MIM. MIM were the first Maoist group in amerikkka to take a firm stand against heterosex- ism, and contributed hugely to Third Worldism, an “alter-globalisation” movement and discourse surrounding the destruction of the First World. The editors do not necessarily endorse everything contained within, but we do think that it provides a valuable point of debate and departure, and are republishing this document for its historical value. Typographical and presentation modifications have been made in the interests of readability. All graphics have been replaced in kind. The text itself remains unmodified apart from an occasional, clearly marked, editor’s note. If you notice any spelling or grammatical mistakes in this edition of MIM Theory, please notify us by email: contact -(@)- alyx.io; RE: “MIM Theory mistake"; include the issue and page number so we can make the necessary corrections to subsequent revisions. 10 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 11 Other issues of MIM Theory can be found at: http://alyx.io/library/mim-theory/ About MIM Prisons MIM (Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons. We uphold the revolutionary communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism- Maoism and work from the vantage point of the Third World proletariat. Our ideology is based in dialectical materialism, which means we work from objective reality to direct change rather than making decisions based on our subjective feelings about things. Defining our organization as a cell means that weare independent of other organizations, but see ourselves as part of a greater Maoist movement within the United $tates and globally. Imperialism is the number one enemy of the majority of the world’s people; we cannot achieve our goal of ending all oppression without overthrowing imperialism. History has shown that the imperialists will wage war before they will allow an end to oppression. Revolution will become a reality within the United $tates as the military becomes over-extended in the government’s attempts to maintain world hegemony. Since we live within an imperialist country, there is no real proletariat—the class of economically exploited workers. Yet there is a significant class excluded from the economic relations of production under modern imperialism that we call the lumpen. Within the United $tates, a massive prison system has developed to manage large populations, primarily from oppressed nations and many of whom come from the lumpen class. Within U.$. borders, the principal contradiction is between imperialism and the oppressed nations. Our enemies call us racists for pointing out that the white oppressor nation historically exploited and continues to oppress other nations within the United $tates. But race is a made-up idea to justify oppression through ideas of inferiority. Nation is a concept based in reality that is defined by a group’s land, language, economy and culture. Individuals from oppressed nations taking CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 12 up leadership roles within imperialist Amerika does not negate this analysis. The average conditions of the oppressed nations are still significantly different from the oppressor nation overall. As revolutionary internationalists, we support the self- determination of all nations and peoples.