Electric bodies, political bodies

At the center of your book, starting with the title itself, is the body—understood as both a private and public dimension. Why this choice? And what role do self-awareness and the politicization of the body play in all of this?
When I began writing the book, I had just moved to Milan and had finished commuting from my hometown. Looking back now, it’s an experience that deeply marked me: coming from a small town and a generally safe, quiet environment, I had never realized how impactful it is to carry your body, as a young woman, through public space—especially in situations as risky as those you face when commuting. It was the first time I became aware that my body had a political value, that it was constantly negotiating with the public sphere. The book emerged as a weaving together of the reflections born from that experience and those I was beginning to form as a journalist. Writing about gender issues, in 99% of my articles I ended up discussing how politics attempts to shape or control how women’s bodies—and the bodies of other marginalized groups—can be used or expressed.

Starting from the body and the themes related to it (menstruation, childhood, death, etc.), you then move on to talk about society. Explain why we are finally beginning to understand that these are issues that concern society as a whole, and not just a portion of the population (however large) in their private lives.
Simone de Beauvoir, in The Second Sex, writes that man thinks of himself as being in immediate relation with the world. He doesn't question his own body and, in a way, is used to not having to deal with it. It simply is. This “luxury,” however, is not afforded to women and other bodies that do not conform to the male, white, “normal” standard. These bodies must constantly negotiate their existence—both for biological and cultural reasons. I believe that this so-called immediate relationship is actually an illusion, even for men. But since masculinity is considered the norm, men don’t think of their bodies as politicized. And yet they are—because even through the lens of privilege, men absorb norms and constraints about what their bodies can or cannot do. It’s very difficult to dismantle this belief, because from early childhood we are already taught that boys should express themselves naturally, while girls must always be careful about what they do and how they behave.

The subtitle of the book is Desire in the feminism to come. What do you think is the relationship between desire and feminism?
It’s a necessary, deeply intertwined relationship. If we weren’t driven by the desire to change something in our lives—whether in our private spheres or in society at large—we wouldn’t be feminists. Today, the word “feminism” is often mystified and used as a label that can be stuck arbitrarily onto things, people, or works. This attitude removes the element of desire from feminism, turning it into a moral value. I don’t believe that “we should all be feminists,” but feminism must belong to those who are moved by the desire to be feminist.

Feminist movements have undergone transformations and changes through the various waves. What is the state of feminism today? What phenomena is it experiencing? And how are younger generations relating to this practice?
The book was published five years ago, and I began writing it almost two years before that. Things have changed profoundly since then, to the point that today, when I reread The Electric Body, I often struggle to find it still relevant. Unfortunately, I see a deep crisis within feminist movements, swallowed on one side by an increasingly repressive political climate, and on the other by internal problems such as the commodification of its demands and deep ideological divisions. Consequently, we are also witnessing a distancing of younger generations from feminism, who view it with skepticism and distrust—perhaps because the version they know is the most commercial and superficial, and therefore less authentic. In the history of feminism, there have always been moments of crisis like this, and one way or another, they have always been overcome. I hope the same happens now.