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Radical Intimacy

Radical Intimacy

by Sophie K Rosa

An impassioned discussion about the alternative ways to form relationships and resist capitalism

Capitalist ideology wants us to believe that there is an optimal way to live. 'Making connections' means networking for work. Our emotional needs are to be fulfilled by a single romantic partner, and self-care equates to taking personal responsibility for our suffering. We must be productive and heterosexual, we must have babies and buy a house. But the kicker is most people cannot and do not want to achieve all, or any of these life goals. Instead we are left feeling atomised, exhausted and disempowered.

Radical Intimacy shows that it doesn't need to be this way. A punchy and impassioned account of inspiring ideas about alternative ways to live, Sophie K Rosa demands we use our radical imagination to discover a new form of intimacy and to transform our personal lives and in turn society as a whole.

Including critiques of the 'wellness' industry that ignores rising poverty rates, the mental health crisis and racist and misogynist state violence; transcending love and sex under capitalism to move towards feminist, decolonial and queer thinking; asking whether we should abolish the family; interrogating the framing of ageing and death and much more, Radical Intimacy is the compassionate antidote to a callous society.

Sophie K Rosa is a writer and freelance journalist. She has written for Novara MediaGuardian, Buzzfeed, VICE, Al Jazeera, Aeon and CNN. In 2018, she was openDemocracy's feminist investigative journalism fellow, producing a series of articles tracking the backlash against women's and LGBTQIA+ rights.

‘This was my most eagerly awaited book of the year and it does not disappoint. A powerful, utterly engaging read and a vital call to action. Sophie K Rosa analyses how current conditions restrict our capacity for caring relationships with ourselves and others, and how these conditions can be implicated in so many forms of intimate violence, injustice and loss. A must read’

- Meg-John Barker, author of 'Rewriting the Rules'

‘Proposes radical answers for people longing for real intimacy, just as she proposes the need to centre all forms of intimacy as radical praxis. We are invited to look for the possibilities of abundant post-capitalist relating, and how they might nurture us in overcoming the systems which trap us in scarcity. It’s great. Please read it!’

- Justin Hancock, Sex and relationships educator

‘A clarion voice from a new generation of British feminists accessibly expanding family-abolitionist thought and praxis into new spheres in response to a swingeing care crisis ... I was gripped’

- Sophie Lewis, author of 'Abolish The Family'

‘Explores Black and Indigenous feminist and queer revolutionary approaches to relating helps unshackle the mind from capitalist and colonial kinship, friendship, and romance. In order to change the world, one must first change the story of the world that is possible’

- Kim TallBear, professor at University of Alberta, Canada

‘Made me reconsider so many of the cultural scripts I've been fed my whole life. Unsparing, important and hopeful’

- Annie Lord, Vogue columnist and author of 'Notes on Heartbreak'

‘Sophie K. Rosa challenges us to rethink, reimagine, resist and redefine intimacy according to our own standards instead of those force-fed to us via the white supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchy. Consider this the next read in your study group.’

- ‘Ms. Magazine’

‘Radical Intimacy scrutinises the reality of love and intimacy ... it also paints a moving alternative of what a different reality can offer. The call to action is strong; she is asking, with compassion and conviction, for collective liberation and for a revolution’

- ‘Mashable’

‘In a world wracked by successive economic and social crises, Sophie K Rosa offers us an alternative; she demands we imagine and create a better world through love … Radical Intimacy is an introduction to a utopian worldview that has compassion at its heart’

- Adele Walton, ‘DAZED’

‘Implores us to transcend our unfair social structures to instead compassionately reconnect with one another'

- Katie Goh, ‘i-D’

‘Sophie K Rosa's polemic interrogates what it means to love and make connections under capitalism’

- ‘Red Pepper’

‘Rosa's groundbreaking manifesto invites us into a politically emancipatory conceptualisation of intimacy beyond capitalism and heteronormativity’

- ‘The Skinny’

‘A punchy and impassioned account of inspiring ideas about alternative ways to live … Radical Intimacy is the compassionate antidote to a callous society’

- ‘The Spill’

‘Excellent ... Instead of resigning ourselves to a lonely life in a New Gilded Age, Radical Intimacy points towards the long and difficult path to a kinder, better future’

- ‘Los Angeles Review of Books’

'I can’t recommend enough Sophie K. Rosa’s Radical Intimacy and its powerful meditations on fostering love and community amid the innately exploitative backdrop of capitalism'

- Kylie Cheung, ‘Jezebel’

Introduction: The intimate is political
1. Your life in your hands
2. Us two against the world
3. They're all you've got
4. A ladder is not a resting place
5. The great equaliser
Conclusion: strong bonds for a fragile planet


 

Published by Pluto Press in Mar 2023
Paperback ISBN: 9780745345161
eBook ISBN: 9780745345208
Audiobook ISBN: 9780745348483

129mm x 198mm

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