I found the concepts of labor in relation to the female body to connect through the works of Federici and Morgan. We are able to see in two different narratives how women’s bodies are exploited in terms of labor through different means of manipulation. For instance in Federici’s Caliban and the Witch” which covers the fourteenth through sixteen-hundreds we are introduced to labor changes through the anti- enclosure riots. When these Lords took away the land that was being farmed by both men and women it also aided in taking away manual labor jobs from women thus forcing them into reproductive labor. Another way in which Federici’s works demonstrated the exploitation of a woman’s body in terms of labor was through the population decline that was disguised as the faults of women for not reproducing enough. Another direct link to the female reproductive system and reproductive labor. These examples shown by Federici highlight an internal mark on the female body for her place in the work force among society. Versus Morgan’s work which I feel demonstrates the more external links to the exploitation of the female body. In multiple references throughout this work, Morgan quotes the work of English European travelers who refer to indigenous women’s breasts as low and sagging. Specifically in reference to the African woman, this false visual was to used in English European literature as a means to reinforce that their place was solely that of enslaved labor. This racist depiction of low sagging breast’s was explained by these English travelers as a means to actually be so heavy and low hanging that it would act as a “natural” anchor to hold them in their work station which would in turn allow the person to be able to produce more, over a longer period of time. ( Morgan 14) The reason I am revisiting Morgans work is due the way in which indigenous women were depicted in this literature. These indigenous women masculinized through the false exaggeration of their bodies, which was a way in which to link them only to manual labor. Also in Morgans work, we are able to see how differently the white women were depicted. In contract to the Indigenous female, the white women were describes as perky breasts while embodying extreme femininity exiling them from any manual labor. This is the factor in which helped me bridge these two works together. In Morgans work extreme femininity exiled these women from manual labor but it acted as another force in which to confine them to reproductive labor as well, thus connecting the two works by Federici and Morgan.
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