In this text, I focus on a moment in Heleieth Saffioti's life which I deem as the one of her most courageous: to choose, as a Marxist sociologist, advised by Florestan Fernandes, the subject of women in Brazil for her Habilitation (Livre Docência) thesis in the 1960s. This combination establishes the point of view from which I will analyze the marriage between Marxism and feminism that Heleieth arranged in her first book. The article is divided in two parts: in the first one, I will point out the main issues discussed by Saffioti in her book; in the second part, I will be concerned with a common enemy, Dr. Freud, who put together Saffioti, and two key feminist women at the time, Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan.
Marxism; Feminism; Saffioti; Beauvoir; Friedan