This, too, was the period when the concept of race as we know it began to take shape—along with the designation of certain races as natural slaves, and of societies penalizing nonreproductive forms of sex. At the end of this period of upheaval, women were not simply firmly ensconced in the home, unwaged and rightsless, but the history of violence that had created that situation was simply wiped away. “Women’s labor began to appear as a natural resource,” Federici wrote, “available to all, no less than the air we breathe or the water we drink.” Even women’s sexuality, she argued, had been
...more
