A review by birdbeakbeast
Beyond the Periphery of the Skin: Rethinking, Remaking, and Reclaiming the Body in Contemporary Capitalism by Silvia Federici

2.0

I was super excited to read this book, since body-based oppression is something I read, think, and talk a lot about. Unfortunately this book did not meet my expectations (or standards). It equated womanhood with having a uterus and vice versa, looked down on sex workers as people who had no other options, and had racist undertones I can't quite pin down. This was a book entirely dedicated to the body, and yet I didn't read anything about ableism or fatphobia. A book on gender and the body published in 2020 cannot ignore the disability and fat lib movement, or be terfy, swerfy, and racist.
When she did say things that struck me as interesting, f.i. the abolition of labour, her wording was vague and she did not go into what she actually meant, what it would look like, etc.
On the whole, this book gave me the feeling of an armchair philosopher who doesn't bother educating herself on topics she isn't already knowledgeable about, and who doesn't feel the need to actually start a dialogue but hides behind imprecise language.
I don't recommend this book.