ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some key radical critiques of the family in relation to its impact on women, before assessing how the measure up in today's world. The family is the primary buying unit for some feminists, nothing less than the destruction of the family was in order. It attempts to link sexism to capitalism and the family offers a sense of the anti-systemic opposition prevalent at the time. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels added their voices to the condemnation of 'the family where wife and children are the slaves of the husband'. The prostitute was 'the guardian of virginal modesty, the channel to carry off adulterous desire, it is her part to act as the shield of the family'. Moreover, they continue to suffer much violence and abuse in the family, and often play second fiddle to their partners and to their careers.
