‘The Arcana of Reproduction: Housewives, Prostitutes, Workers and Capital’ by Leopoldina Fortunati reviewed by Nena Ackerl (opens in new tab)

Verso has published a new English translation of Leopoldina Fortunati’s seminal contribution to Marxist feminism, The Arcana of Reproduction: Housewives, Prostitutes, Workers and Capital, originally published in 1981 in Italian. In The Arcana, Fortunati puts forth a theory of reproduction with, beyond and against Marx. She argues that Marxists have thus far misunderstood reproduction as an unproductive and natural activity external to capitalist relations, which has led to an incomplete and i...