Synopsis
A Marxist-feminist history arguing that the witch hunts and the subordination of women were integral to the rise of capitalism.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workThe persecution of women and the disciplining of their bodies was not a medieval relic but a foundation of capitalist accumulation.
It rewrites the origins of capitalism to center the unpaid reproductive labor of women and the violence that secured it.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I.
Reading note
Read it as a historical argument in dialogue with Marx's account of primitive accumulation, extending and revising it.
Best paired with
Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I