Manifiesto de un feminismo para el 99%

by Cinzia Arruzza, Nancy Fraser, Tithi Bhattacharya

Vivimos hoy una crisis de la sociedad en su conjunto. El capitalismo, más allá de sus problemas económicos, también alberga contradicciones y desequilibrios de tipo ecológico, político, social y reproductivo: viviendas inasequibles, violencia policial, imperialismo, salarios insuficientes, etc.  

Sin embargo, estos temas son obviados por las políticas del feminismo actual, que difunde una versión elitista y corporativa para proyectar una apariencia emancipadora sobre un programa oligárquico y depredador: un feminismo solo apto para la poderosa minoría acomodada.

Este manifiesto tiene un propósito: llevar a cabo una operación de rescate y corrección de rumbo para reorientar las luchas feministas hacia el resto de la población, y proponer con ella una reorganización total de la sociedad. El feminismo no debería detenerse con ver a las mujeres representadas en la cima de la sociedad, sino que debe involucrarse en las perturbaciones políticas, la precariedad económica y el agotamiento socio-reproductivo.

Para resolver la crisis actual, que es una crisis social total, hace falta otro feminismo, un feminismo para el 99 por ciento.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Politics, Philosophy, Essays, Gender, Social Justice

106 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2019

About the author

Cinzia Arruzza is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Rome Tor Vergata and subsequently studied at the universities of Fribourg (Switzerland), and Bonn (Germany), where she was the recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship. Her research interests include ancient metaphysics and political thought, Plato, Aristotle, Neoplatonism, feminist theory and Marxism. She is currently working on two projects: 1) a monograph on tyranny and the tyrant in Plato's Republic; 2) a research project on gender, capitalism, social reproduction, and Marx's critique of political economy.

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short manifesto about how liberal feminism and capitalism are destroying democracies, the lives of people and the planet. They outline why feminism must fight against capitalism and neo-liberalism if it is to have any positive impact on the lives of 99% of the world's population (especially women who bear the brunt of poverty, violence and oppression). I agree with all of their points but my criticism is that it reads like a manifesto for the already converted. They assume that readers will understand complex political theory with little explanations or illustrations. I understand that a manifesto is not a textbook, but if its purpose is to influence people who do not already agree with them, they needed to make their points more accessible to the reader.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful manifesto that compels us to make our feminism more revolutionary, specifically by targeting capitalism as a primary root of women’s oppression. Written by three of the organizers of the international women’s strike, Feminism for the 99% draws from women’s mobilizing efforts in countries such as Mexico, Spain, Brazil, and more to expand feminism to dismantle economic, environmental, and racist injustice. I loved this book for its bold and uncompromising call for moving beyond a form of feminism that serves white and/or wealthy women. Here’s a quote from the beginning of the book that addresses the problem with liberal feminism, a common form of feminism within contemporary society:

“Centered in the global North among the professional-managerial stratum, [liberal feminism] is focused on ‘leaning-in’ and ‘cracking the glass ceiling.’ Dedicated to enabling a smattering of privileged women to climb the corporate ladder and the ranks of the military, it propounds a market-centered view of equality that dovetails perfectly with the prevailing corporate enthusiasm for ‘diversity.’ Although it condemns ‘discrimination’ and advocates ‘freedom of choice,’ liberal feminism steadfastly refuses to address the socioeconomic constraints that make freedom and empowerment impossible for the large majority of women. Its real aim is not equality, but meritocracy. Rather than seeking to abolish social hierarchy, it aims to ‘diversify’ it, ‘empowering’ ‘talented’ women to rise to the top. In treating women simply as an ‘underrepresented group,’ its proponents seek to ensure that a few privileged souls can attain positions and pay on a par with the men of their own class. By definition, the principal beneficiaries are those who already possess considerable social, cultural, and economic advantages. Everyone else remains stuck in the basement.”

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick, intelligent, and fiery takedown of capitalist exploitation and the importance of ensuring that feminism transcends replicating oppressive class and race dynamics. It’s short, so the authors don’t really provide deep or thorough methods for putting these ideals into practice, and at the same time I figure we can read more books or read up on organizing and policy to help us enact their vision. Furthermore, I did wonder if the authors’ language is accessible to all those who they may be trying to reach. At the same time, I feel that this book works as a call to action to those of us with more privilege (whether that be class, education, and/or race privilege) to both use our privilege and to step aside for those who have been marginalized again and again through capitalism. Ideally, we’d fight for a world where social and economic hierarchies are completely dismantled. I’ll end this review with a quote I appreciated from the authors’ section on how feminism must be anti-racist and anti-imperialist:

“The effects of this global pyramid scheme are gendered as well. Today, millions of black and migrant women are employed as caregivers and domestic workers. Often undocumented and far from their families, they are simultaneously exploited and expropriated – forced to work precariously and on the cheap, deprived of rights, and subject to abuses of every stripe. Forged by global care chains, their oppression enables better conditions for more privileged women, who avoid (some) domestic work and pursue demanding professions. How ironic, then, that some of these privileged women invoke women’s rights in support of political campaigns to jail black men as rapists, to persecute migrants and Muslims, and to require that black and Muslim women assimilate to dominant culture!”

[Lili · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I wholeheartedly agree with the premise of this manifesto that we need a feminist system that is more intersectional.
But I find this book somewhat lacking. First, it listed a lot of aspects of the current society that Feminism for the 99% rejects but the authors sadly failed to explain how exactly they want to establish this change. It's all nice and all if you know that the status quo is failing and that it needs to be replaced but it's kind of naive to assume that you can change it just by simply pointing out its flaws. You need an approach how to change that and how to, realisticly, implement that change. The book never adressed that problem. We're talking about a change that would affect the whole globe. So there are definitely factors like diffrent government/judicial systems, differnt cultural mentalities, etc. to consider.

Second, the book read like the authors saw in capitalism the root of every problem. While I wholeheartedly agree that capitalism causes a lot of problems, it's not the only system to do so. Racism and sexism are systematic problems of societies. Hartred and mistreatment are generated in people's minds and exist outside of capitalism just fine as well. Capitalism is the big bad here, yes, agreed. But it most definitely didn't invent racism or sexism. Those issue can thrive just fine outside of capitalism - maybe just in different shapes and forms as we know it now.

This book was a good and interesting read but could have been longer and elaborated more on some issues. Everyone who is interested in a critique of the current neo-liberal system and feminist movement should definitely give this book a try.

[Ike · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's just... I think this is unlikely to be readable to people who aren't at home in critical theory literature on gender, race and class (which is ironic for a book about feminism for the 99%), while at the same time if you are at home in that literature, I'm unsure how much of this is new. There is also a difference between issues being intertwined and causation and sometimes I feel like those two get mixed up here. Anyway, there is definitely truth in here, and it was at times very effective at formulating specific arguments, but just not as great as I had hoped.

[The Conspiracy is Capitalism · Rating 4 out of 5]

A manifesto for mass movements…

The Good:
--The priority here is listing out the overarching views/goals in an accessible and engaging manner…
--Highlights:
1) Capitalism’s profit motive promotes necessitates systemic free-riding on “externalities” (external to market pricing) and of course chief propagandist Milton Friedman redirects this at the “state” with “there is no such thing as a free lunch” (how convenient). We see this in capitalism's failure with the existential environmental crisis. Another key resource is free labour, esp. social reproduction (housework/care-work, to reproduce the wage labourers), thus disproportionately exploiting women.

2) Given the latest trends in capitalism dismantling the welfare state, social production is also a key site for social struggle. “Class struggle” and the “strike” need to be expanded beyond wage labour’s demands in wages/hours. Ex. International Women’s Strike.
3) Thus, capitalist feminism (ex. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead) is out. While this may be obvious for activists, keep in mind that a manifesto is also our outreach to the general public (something niche, ivory-tower creative writing like Xenofeminism: A Politics for Alienation completely neglects). This leaves a vacuum which liberal feminism tries to fill, ex. We Should All Be Feminists...

The Missing:
--The way to get around the requirement for manifestos to be concise is to have a nice “References” or “Further Readings” section at the end; did you find this in your copy?
…This seems invaluable in bridging outreach with deeper investigations:
1) Political economy/history of capitalism (i.e. free-riding/commodification/dispossession/endless growth/crises/abstraction)?
-intro: Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails
-Feminist economics 101: The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values
-structural alternatives: Another Now: Dispatches from an Alternative Present
-intro to global conditions: The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions
-Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism
-deep dive: Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History, and the Present
-Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation
2) Global South?
-The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World
-Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour
-Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World
3) Environment?
-Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World
-Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System
-A People’s Green New Deal
-The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth
-Ecofeminism
4) Organizing?
-Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell); My Decade Fighting for the Labor Movement
-A People's History of the United States

[Diz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sympathetic to the message of this book that feminism can play a role in curbing the excesses of capitalism and that the system as it now exists is broken. However, this book has two issues.

First, it doesn't propose an alternative to capitalism, so it's not clear what the authors are asking readers to fight for. Towards the end of the book, the authors admit that they aren't sure what system would replace capitalism, but people would figure it out as they dismantle capitalism. Protest and action are more powerful if people are fighting for something rather than fighting against something.

Second, this book is mostly made up of statements of belief rather than statements of persuasion. Claims about the failings of capitalism are made without providing data or evidence to back it up. While this might appeal to those who are sympathetic to the message (such as myself), those who are not will not be convinced because there is no attempt to convince them. This limits the reach of this book, which undercuts its ability to drive mass action.

[julieta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro me deja con un montón de ideas dando vueltas. Creo que lo que plantea es interesante, habla de un feminismo incluyente que apunta especialmente hacia el capitalismo como el gran mal que separa todos los feminismos, y que excluye a todo lo distinto. Es interesante, pero no se si es un planteo que se pueda realizar, aunque como idea me parece buenísimo. Igual me quedo pensando en el tema del socialismo, si ya se ha visto que el socialismo tampoco ha sido un éxito en ninguna parte, qué tipo de socialismo plantea. Pero me encanta leer esto, porque me hace imaginar las posibilidades, y me dan ganas de seguir leyendo para elaborar lo que sería mi opinion. En este momento no se si diría que suscribo a todo lo que dice este libro, pero sí me gusta que exista y que se planteen las cosas así, una propuesta frente a estos elementos que tenemos en el mundo como es ahora.
Separa el feminismo de las mujeres privilegiadas, las de las pobres, y dice que el capitalismo inventó esto de separar la crianza de las personas, del trabajo pagado. Por lo cual el papel de las mujeres dentro del capitalismo no es valorado porque no tiene un valor monetario. Es tremendo, y tiene todo el sentido esto. Porque además las mujeres quedamos expuestas a ser dependientes de personas que quizás viven bajo una opresión, y entonces empieza la violencia de género. Es toda una cadena, y está bueno buscar causas y efectos en el estado de las cosas en este momento. Seguiré buscando libros que me ayuden a encontrar sentido a las cosas, y este libro es de gran ayuda para buscarlo.

[Seth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This "manifesto" has very little to do with feminism and is in reality a drawn out anti-capitalist rant with little basis in fact, and equally lacking in its ability to create a coherent argument. Tough to read, would not recommend.

[M.E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "Feminism for the 99%", three leading Marxist-Feminist thinkers and activists—Arruzza, Bhattacharya and Fraser—lay out a politics to serve the current international wave of mass women's protest that includes a direct critique of capitalism. The book is exceedingly accessible, lively, and dynamically engaged in a major social movement. They effectively introduce for all audiences many emerging and significant currents of Marxist-Feminist thought today: social reproduction theory that integrates waged and unwaged household labor as part of a common logic of capitalism, the idea we are living through a care crisis motiving a gendered class rebellion, and the value of putting anti-capitalism at the center of multi-issue feminism. This is a crucial movement and a crucial book, and well worth the read.

As a partisan of the movement and a comrade of the authors, I have various critiques, but none of them are lethal. I don't think we are living in a care crisis. Unlike the mid-1800s, for example, working class people in most of the world are not dying at such rates that they cannot generationally replace themselves. I would lean towards calling this a "care squeeze," but unlike crisis that suggests resistance and rebellion are not inevitable, but still have to be explained. This has important implications for how we imagine the care squeeze may effect capitalist accumulation—I suspect it will have little effect without major political struggle.

I'm suspicious that social reproduction theory may not sufficiently account for the political struggles of those excluded from chains of reproduction of labor power, such as those in communities where both mothers and their children are unlikely to ever find much work, an increasing reality for racialized "surplus populations" that are an important part of Marx's original predictions for capitalist development.

Most importantly, I think the title is poorly chosen and dated from a now lost moment of Occupy. We have since seen the growth of mass fascist misogyny among sections of small property owners, constituting a not insignificant part of the population, capable of electing fascists in political office. We have to actually understand, explain and make sense of the class structure we are facing and "99%" just confuses that.

But compared to the brilliance, value and helpfulness of this book, these are minor critiques. It's an excellent read.

[chantel nouseforaname · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yo these women really laid it down!!! A concretely clear and succinct work explaining how capitalism is killing everyone, focally women. They highlighted the lack of effort put forth by governments across the globe to circumvent the exploitation and subjugation of women internationally.

I mean, real talk — I feel like a better feminist after reading this because it informed me of what I should be looking for in my leaders in my community. Platitudes from neoliberals and their empty statements won’t do. We need evidence of measures taken to rectify situations where capitalistic influence has harmed the lives of marginalized peoples. We need to expose the lack of effort where it exists from our elected/appointed officials, expose the lies and hold our leadership accountable. It informed me of what I should be looking for especially from leaders and those with influence, in the spirit of equity for women everywhere. I’m invested.

This really read like some work from the Combahee River Collective. Such an important read and I’m still processing many concepts from each of their thesis. They’ve given me a ton of other work to look into. I’m brushing up on my Marx and Engels.

[Laura Noggle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what to think of this one.

Still need to process a bit, but initial thoughts are that this book is a touch alienating and extremely academic.

Ironically, I’d say this book is probably *NOT* for 99% of the population.

Might review this manifesto again as it was very short and did pack a punch.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guys capitalism is bad

[MuHammad Ahmed El-WaKeel · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتيّب مهم للغاية التعريف بالنسوية الاجتماعية/الاشتراكية، النسوية التي يمكن للمرء أن يقف بنفس الصف معها مقتنعا ومدافعا عنها. المانيفستو يوضّح الأرضية المشتركة التي يجب أن تكون موجودة بين النسوية والأفكار والجماعات المضطهدة الأخرى اجتماعيا وسياسيا واقتصاديا. أظنه مدخل مهم للفكرة لمناقشتها وتقديمها على أنها فكرة للجميع.

[♡ Martina ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un buon manifesto che riassume alcuni punti cardine del pensiero femminista. Penso sia un buon libro per chi vuole iniziare ad approcciarsi alla letteratura femminista. Stile molte semplice e d'impatto, tipico di un manifesto.

[daemyra, the realm's delight · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most dangerous trap for feminists lie in thinking that our current political options are limited to two: on the one hand, a "progressive" variant of neoliberalism, which diffuses an elitist, corporate version of feminism to cast an emancipatory veneer over a predatory, oligarchic agenda; on the other, a reactionary variant of neoliberalism, which pursues a similar, plutocratic agenda by other means - deploying misogynist and racist tropes to burnish its "populist" credentials.

In Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto, authors Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Nancy Fraser posit that the feminism movement must move beyond these two false choices, boss babe empowerment and fearmongering populism. They share 11 theses on what anticapitalist feminism must be:

Thesis 1: A new feminist wave is reinventing the strike.

Thesis 2: Liberal feminism is bankrupt. It's time to get over it.

Thesis 3: We need an anticapitalist feminism - a feminism for the 99 percent.

Thesis 4: What we are living through is a crisis of society as a whole - and its root cause is capitalism.

Thesis 5: Gender oppression in capitalist societies is rooted in the subordination of social reproduction to production for profit. We want to turn things right side up.

Thesis 6: Gender violence takes many forms, all of them entangled with capitalist social relations. We vow to fight them all.

Thesis 7: Capitalism tries to regulate sexuality. We want to liberate it.

Thesis 8: Capitalism was born from racist and colonial violence. Feminism for the 99 percent is anti-racist and anti-imperialist.

Thesis 9: Fighting to reverse capital's destruction of the earth, feminism for the 99 percent is eco-socialist.

Thesis 10: Capitalism is incompatible with real democracy and peace. Our answer is feminist internationalism.

Thesis 11: Feminism for the 99 percent calls on all radical movements to join together in a common anticapitalist insurgency.

This is a short read, as it is a manifesto, and what I think I learned the most from this was on social reproduction and the people-making imperative in society, and how it is linked to capitalism worldwide. This has interested me for some time, as I've learned more about weaponized incompetence, but being able to see step by step, the global care chain, really goes to show once again how neoliberal feminism is not about liberation for all but wants to pass the buck to BI&WoC.

Some women don't care about liberation for all women - they just want to be the one with the power. This is also, now that I'm rambling here, the insidious effect of representation politics - we think that just because someone is of that ancestry that they are down with the cause. We have to stop thinking that one person speaks for the group or that they get a pass. Representation doesn't mean anything if everyone that is represented is a token in hiding. And while we all carry the memory of our ancestors in us, we also have to unlearn and unpack proximity to whiteness - it doesn't just happen.

This is a good look at anticapitalist feminism. In thesis 8, I would appreciate an expanded discussion on white supremacy. Racism, imperialism, and ethnonationalism is named and addressed with examples, but I feel that displaying characteristics of white supremacy will also lead to movement in-fighting and splintering.

[Charity · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very disappointed in this book. I enjoy reading all kinds of literature, regardless of whether or not I personally agree with its thesis or premise. But here - where I hoped to find original thought and insight, I found nothing but the same tired rhetoric of political propaganda. Where I hoped to find articulate, insightful, intelligent debate, I found only bitting remarks that are symptomatic of our divided state as a nation. A feminist ideology that alienates those who do not have the same political orientation or is built on attacking the “neo-liberal” women currently in power is not a feminism I want. Feminism should fight for ALL women. The authors do not care about the 99%, only the small percentage who believe exactly the way they do.

[Marzena · Rating 2 out of 5]

If anyone ever asks me why I read Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto I'll answer: because I didn't know what I was getting into.

In my quest in broadening my own horizons and learning about feminism more than YAY GRL PWR!, I found myself reading this book and questioning my sanity. I mean, I agree with some of the manifesto's points. I wholeheartedly reject others. The manifesto is full of big words, so if one was mischievous, one could say 99% of readers won't understand much of it.

A feminism that is truly anti-racist and anti-imperialist must also be anticapitalist.

All in all, I have to say I'm impressed how much this manifesto is both American AND communist.

[Jessie Pietens]

A short but strong manifesto written by three Marxist-Feminists, calling for an intersection between feminism, environmentalism, anti-racism and anti-capitalism etc. It shows us the potential these philosophies have if we were to connect them, showing that they're best when they are combined. It's short, yet detailed and definitely packs a punch. I do feel, however, that - it being a manifesto for the 99% - it was not always as accessible as I had hoped. Nevertheless, it has important food for thought and ideas to act upon. Definitely an interesting read that you should pick up if you're interested in short feminist manifesto's and ideas on how we could rebuild our society.

[Gabriela Ventura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um manifesto que não podia ficar mais claro e condensado. A luta por um feminismo que não seja sequestrado pelos interesses do capital passa por várias miragens e a sedução do feminismo liberal midiático, especialmente para mulheres mais jovens ou ainda não inseridas na vida política. Um livro que não vou conseguir recomendar o suficiente para os 99%, mas seguirei tentando.

[Kab · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want this revolution, but this is not written for the 99%. Even for the already converted, at a would-be punchy fifty pages, it's repetitive and low on solid indictment and action to grab onto. The conclusions to each thesis come across as wispy as self-help fluff and the argumentation is too generalised to be rallying.

[muthuvel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gender could be seen and debated on its own when it comes to abstract grounds. In reality we live in a world where there's a lot of compromise between individualism and collectivism filled with many systematic organizations for we are, after all, social beings in nature.

This manifesto comes with eleven theses about how liberal feminism and capitalism aren't really favouring for democracies, living conditions of people in general and of the planet.

With citing recent woman's resistance movements across the globe in response the oppressive living conditions, the book calls for the feminists to work together with eco-socialists, anti-imperialists, immigrant toiling workers for better living conditions for all in the gender spectrum and also makes the case for paving a new form of leftist politics that provide better conditions not just for the top 1% (I started missing Bernie already.)

"Cinzia Arruzza had parsed the fraught relations between feminism and socialism, both historically and theoretically. Tithi Bhattacharya had theorized the implications of social reproduction for the concepts of class and class struggle. Nancy Fraser had developed enlarged conceptions of capitalism and capitalist crisis, of which the crisis of social reproduction forms one strand."

Both Cinzia and Nancy are professors of philosophy at The New School of NYC. Tithi is a professor of South Asian Studies at Purdue university and a Marxist feminist.

Marx says that 'The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.' Many of us in the 20th century if not the recent times have tried to change the world too often without understanding it much in the first place causing a lot of mess in its wake. Systems that rationalize structural functionalism has got to make sure the rationalization has fair amount of validity at the least before coming up with compromises over the majority of the population. Most of the problems stem from the historical colonialism to modern day imperialism, racism under capitalist frameworks.

Definitely worth reading.

[Nathana Tila · Rating 4 out of 5]

O feminismo não é sobre odiar homem (se quiser pode, mulheres).
Agora, quando o assunto é capitalismo, é pra odiar mesmo.

[Zsa Zsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been talking about some of the premises mentioned in the manifesto (not as coherently) but received resistance from others, even from feminists especially about sexual exploitation. I’m with the Feminism for 99 percent, count me in NOW.
“For the reason that a feminism for the 99 percent incarnates and fosters the struggle for bread and roses.”

[Giulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cinque stelle solo perchè non potevo dare di più.

[Tanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
Firstly, I should say that I agree with all the ideas in this book, this review is more a discussion of if those ideas were conveyed effectively.

Essentially, this is one of those books that makes you ask the question: who is this for?

It covers the basics of anticapitalist feminism, so people well-versed in the subject matter won’t find anything particularly new, but it is also quite brief in it’s explorations of relevant phenomena, making it not the best tool to convince people who haven’t quite been swayed by anti-capitalist ideas. I think even just a few more sentences here and there could have made this more convincing. For example the sentence „the exploitative practices of capitalist companies in countries of the global South lead to displacement and poverty of the farmers, and in some cases, even suicide.“ Putting a few more sentences here why that is happening exactly, maybe even quoting and comparing suicide rates of those farmers, which I always find to be a very strong argument, could have strengthened the points made that much more. Now it feels more like a sentence being thrown in there for someone like me, who is already familiar with this topic, to nod along knowingly. Confirming things the reader already knows doesn’t really seem to be the aim of this book, but who knows, maybe it’s sole purpose really is just to be a literal manifesto for other feminists to engage with. Yet, they do claim to try to create a feminist follow up to the Communist Manifesto, which they admit to be difficult to emulate, which was definitely intended to try and sway „non-believers“, so I think it’s fair to judge them on their effectiveness of that.

Whoever the intended audience was, either way, I think this should have been more detailed. I assume the briefness was intentional for accessibility reasons, I just don’t think it’s worth sacrificing swaying power for.

However, as I said in the beginning, I am being critical of this book only in terms of form. When talking about the thesis points and their content, I wholeheartedly agree with all of them. There wasn’t anything I could find that I disagreed with, which is pretty rare for a subject I have such strong opinions about (but could also partially be due to the brevity of the book). I found the Postface to be the best chapter.

The writing all throughout the book is precise and careful, a delicate balance the authors manage to achieve. There are some great quotes you can use to make a point, and memorable zingers like „war-mongers in skirts“. lol

[Giusy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una lettura contemporanea e necessaria che, a partire dal Manifesto del Partito Comunista del 1848, evidenzia e supera i limiti di Marx ed Engels in un mondo molto più globalizzato di quello della loro epoca.
"Femminismo per il 99%" ci mette in guardia dal cadere vittimə della trappola del capitalismo, che ci fa credere di non avere alternative: oltre al neoliberismo progressista, che diffonde una versione elitaria e aziendale del femminismo ("un mondo in cui uomini e donne della classe dominante condividono il compito di gestire lo sfruttamento sul posto di lavoro e l'oppressione nella società") e al neoliberismo reazionario, che si serve di luoghi comuni misogini e razzisti, c'è una terza via. Esiste ed è possibile un femminismo emancipatore, antirazzista, antiimperialista, ecologico e, per forza di cose, anticapitalista. Un femminismo che si ponga come obiettivo il rovesciamento di un sistema che espropria, sfrutta e svaluta il lavoro di ciascunə. Un femminismo che non nutra gli interessi del ricco 1%, ma che si occupi del restante 99.
Una lettura fondamentale per comprendere pienamente cosa si intenda per intersezionalità e perché oggi sia necessaria più che mai.

Non do 5 stelle piene solo perché avrei preferito si fosse soffermato più approfonditamente su alcuni concetti la cui conoscenza viene data per scontata. Inoltre, pur essendo un manifesto agguerrito e denso, propone molte più critiche (su cui mi trovo interamente d'accordo!) che reali soluzioni, oltre alla necessità che ogni lotta non sia a sé stante, ma si intersechi con le altre.

[SusyG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saggio DIVORATO! È breve quindi in una giornata si può leggere, davvero bello e interessante! Attraverso 11 tesi, le autrici dimostrano come il femminismo in quest'epoca debba essere anticapitalista ma soprattutto intersezionale, affrontando anche il razzismo, l'omolesbotransfobia e l'ambientalismo. Mi sono trovata d'accordo su molte tesi, la lettura è molto molto scorrevole! Davvero consigliato!

[Marina Guerra]

não é o meu tipo de leitura, apesar de reconhecer o mérito. é de fato um manifesto, como o nome afirma, logo não cabem maiores informações, no entanto, achei que seria mais persuasivo. não tenho como avaliar pq acho que as minhas expectativas não estavam de acordo com a proposta do livro.

[ngọc ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personally, I don't think this manifesto does a very good job at convincing their supposed target audience—read: liberal feminists, possibly also class reductionists and male Marxists—but it did introduce me to social reproduction theory, which I find very interesting.


— 2.5 / C+

[Francisco Lisboa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giving it 5 stars for what it is: a manifesto. For this reason it cannot allow itself to fully develop any of the exposed issues and themes, but it works wonderfully as an introductory reading on the importance of intersectional feminism, not only against conservatives but especially against neoliberal feminism which dehumanizes the struggles of those below on the socioeconomic pyramid, whose struggle is perpetually silenced. In short, an anticapitalist intersectional feminism for all, beautifully introduced for any who dare look beyond their own status and potential privilege, sparking interest for other more in-depth reads on the topics exposed.