The Fear of Women by Silvia Federici Publisher: Guangqi Bookstore

Introduction
【Editor's recommendation】
☆The representative work of Sylvia Federici, a leading figure in the Marxist feminist movement, is a bestseller in more than 20 countries around the world. Following "Caliban and the Witch", this book discusses the issue of witch hunting again, revealing the continuity between the history of witch hunting and the contemporary persecution of women.
☆Telling the history of capitalism with women at the center: “primitive accumulation” has never ended, and the persecution of women has paved the way for the global expansion of capitalism.
☆Showing the power of women: The author does not view women as mere victims, but sees their strength and initiative in resisting the capitalist order, uniting communities, and fighting social injustice.
☆ Associate Professor Zhang Yin from the School of Philosophy of Fudan University was specially invited to write a long introduction to the article, which specially includes Federici's famous work "Wages Against Housework", fully presenting his thoughts and practical paths, and discussing the oppression suffered by women in the reproduction process from all aspects.
【Content Introduction】
In the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe and its colonies, countless women were killed as "witches".
Why did witch hunts primarily target women?
As the feminist movement has developed, why has a wave of violence against women once again swept the world?
Who do they threaten? How do they resist?
Today, we are experiencing a new upsurge in violence against women’s bodies and institutions, which has coincided with the expansion of capitalist social relations. In this book, Federici examines the root causes of this phenomenon and describes its impact on women and communities. The book revolves around two themes. In the first part, the author returns to history and points out that the enclosure movement was one of the main factors that led to witch hunting, which was an effective tool for economic privatization. The second part returns to the contemporary global context to outline a new map of violence against women, explaining that the root cause of this wave of violence is the new form of capital accumulation, including land dispossession, the destruction of community relations, and the intensified exploitation of women’s bodies and labor.
Federici shows us that the "Enclosure Movement" never ended, the "witch hunt" never disappeared, and the persecution of women has always been a necessary condition for the global expansion of capitalism.
【Recommended comments】
Federici has become a key figure for a new generation of young Marxists, political theorists, and feminists.
—Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Club
Silvia Federici’s work embodies an energy that urges us to re-energize the struggle against all types of exploitation, and it is for this reason that her work generates a commonality: a consensus that creates community in struggle.
—Maria Mies, German Marxist feminist and sociologist
Even in the entire history of thought, it is rare to find a thought that transcends both historical research and current issues, as well as economic calculation and revolutionary violence. Although Federici's Fear of Women (including the appendix Wages Against Housework) and Beyond the Boundary of the Body are not long, they have already covered these four dimensions. Therefore, they can also provide references for readers to further read and explore these four dimensions.
——Zhang Yin, Associate Professor of the School of Philosophy, Fudan University
For those familiar with Caliban and the Witch, this book revisits and updates insights into the gender politics of capitalism. For those encountering Federici’s work for the first time, this book is an excellent summary of the key arguments of Caliban and the Witch, re-emphasizing them through the lens of the current gender wars in different parts of the world. For all readers, this book, with its persuasive and highly readable prose, continues in the footsteps of Federici’s earlier scholarship. In fact, it is not only scholarship, but also a protest against the deliberate disregard and trivialization of violence against women in the name of witch hunting.
——The Sociological Review
Sylvia Federici's new book is a brilliant analysis and powerful condemnation of violence against women and their communities. She focuses on women who have been convicted as witches in the early days of capitalism and in contemporary globalization. Federici updates material from her famous book Caliban and the Witches, drawing attention to resistance and alternatives currently being waged through struggles by women and their communities.
—Massimo De Angelis, Professor of Political Economy at the University of East London
It is good to think with Sylvia Federici, whose clear analysis and passionate opinions come through in essays documenting enclosures and dispossessions, witch hunts, and other attacks on women, both now and in the past. With her insights, action is much easier.
—Eileen Boris, professor of feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara