Materialism and Family

In the German Ideology, Marx and Engels tersely posit that one of the products of sexual reproduction is the Family, which entails a division of labor in which mother and child are "slaves" of the "husband", and which, therefore, consists in a fundamental instance of exploitation. However, this hasty formulation is problematic in several respects. First, the process by which 2 becomes 3 is distinct from that in which 3 becomes a 'family', the contingency of which is proven by examples, in some species, of one of the progenitors departing after the original intercourse. Second, the use of the term 'husband' connotes a conventional role, not a natural one. Third, the existence of matriarchal societies refutes any contention that if there is by nature a dominant member of a family, it is the male. Fourth, a division of labor in the act of insemination is prenatal, as is the subsequent labor process. Now, none of these errors undermines the proposition that the family in the German society of 1845 is exploitative. But, it does not follow that it is so 'by nature', as the presentation seems to contend, nor that a more methodically developed Materialist concept of the family might begin with the proposition that sexual intercourse is constituted by a complementary division of labor.