Transfeminist beach readings to pack on holiday Novels, essays and great classics

You know those lists of "light" summer reads to pack for vacation? Romance novels, airport thrillers, celebrity memoirs? Well, forget them for a moment. Summer is the perfect time to dive into new voices, uncomfortable reflections, and liberated desires. This book selection is good for your heart, your mind, and the fight: to deconstruct, to question, and to feel deeply. Whether you're under a beach umbrella, on a train, on a park bench, or in bed after a long sun-soaked day. And if you're looking for something new, check out the latest releases here.

Transfeminist classics to read in summer 2025

Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis (1981)

A foundational text of intersectional thought. Angela Davis - philosopher, activist, and icon of Black feminism -tears apart the myth of a universal feminism. She reveals how the struggles of bourgeois white women have often excluded or hindered those of Black, poor, and exploited women. Through an analysis of slavery, domestic labor, contraception, and abortion rights in the U.S., Davis shows just how deeply interconnected class, race, and gender really are. A tough but necessary read that urges us to unlearn mainstream feminism and recognize our own privileges. As Davis puts it: "Feminism must be antiracist, anticapitalist, and abolitionist. Otherwise, it isn’t feminism."

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf (1929)

A small masterpiece of clarity and wit. Written as a long lecture, it begins with a simple provocation: to write fiction, a woman must have money and a room of her own. From this premise, Woolf reflects on women’s historical silence in literature, their exclusion from universities and libraries, and the material poverty that kept them from creating freely. A timeless call to demand space, financial independence, and intellectual dignity for every marginalized person.

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir (1949)

In two volumes, this work explores how women have historically been constructed as "the Other" to men, reduced to bodies, objects of desire, or social functions. Its most famous and radical contribution is the assertion that "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman," anticipating the idea of gender as a cultural construct. A dense, philosophical, and still-revolutionary work that laid the foundations for modern European feminism and inspired generations.

Contemporary Essays to Sharpen Critical Thinking

Something broke - or perhaps unlocked - after Covid. During the pandemic years, our daily, relational, and emotional lives were compressed in unprecedented ways. Loneliness, the invisible burden of care, and the deep need for connection and meaning became central themes. In that suspended moment, feminism evolved, finding new languages, urgencies, and voices. A new wave was born: more widespread, radical, and collective.

Contemporary feminism has become an increasingly nuanced lens for interpreting the world. It touches everything: how we raise children, how we work, how we dress, how we experience illness, the body, desire, and time. Topics have multiplied: care, mental health, parenting, menstruation, language, caregiving labor, transfemininity, neurodivergence, reproductive rights, pornography, pleasure, the environment. Within this landscape, I felt compelled to write “The Swedes Do It Better: How a Nordic Approach to Sex and Relationship Education Could Improve Italy”, published by Rizzoli (2024). The title is tongue-in-cheek, but the proposal is serious: start from comprehensive relationship and sex education to reimagine the present. Because that’s where everything begins. Sex-ed is a neglected pillar of our school and cultural systems, yet it’s fundamental to broad, deep, and lasting social transformation. Using Sweden as a case study, I explore the emotional, structural, and cultural knots that hold Italy back and envision a transversal, transfeminist education connected to other key struggles: gender equality, violence prevention, mental well-being, body representation, and social justice. It’s not about "teaching sex": it’s about offering tools to inhabit one’s identity freely, consciously, and responsibly.

Sex Positive. The Gentle Revolution Changing Sexuality, edited by Filippo Maria Nimbi (Laterza 2024)

A rigorous and clear exploration of a paradox: sex is everywhere—TV shows, dating apps, ads, porn—yet silence still reigns. We live in an oversexualized era, yet we’re trapped in a sex-negative culture that sees sex as something to be controlled, restricted, or feared. Why do taboos persist? Why is sex talked about among friends only within narrow scripts? Why is it so often unspoken in long-term relationships? Why isn’t it discussed openly in schools, media, or families? What are we afraid of? Sex Positive tackles these questions through contributions from psychologists, activists, researchers, and educators, all curated by Filippo Maria Nimbi. The book offers an alternative grounded in kindness, awareness, and respect, inviting readers to explore sexuality without shame. It’s not an invitation to sex for everyone, but to the freedom of desiring or not desiring.

Ladies Don’t Talk About Money by Azzurra Rinaldi (Fabbri 2023)

We often hear that “ladies don’t talk about money” because women who do are still seen as ambitious, materialistic, or greedy. Azzurra Rinaldi, professor of Political Economy at the University of Rome Unitelma Sapienza, wants to break that taboo by talking about economics and how gender discrimination hurts everyone, even financially. She addresses unpaid care work, economic violence, and the kind of emancipation that challenges the patriarchal system, exposing the real-world impact of these forces on women’s wallets. She calls for sisterhood, better representation, and reclaims words that remain taboo: pleasure, power, desire. With a fresh voice and plenty of pop culture references, her book helps even the skeptics grasp the problem—and its consequences for society as a whole.

Nonbinary Revolution by Lou Ms. Femme (Le Plurali Editrice 2025)

More than just an essay, this is an intimate, deep journey through history, politics, and culture, exploring the colonial and structural roots of gender binarism. With a voice that blends rigorous data, theoretical analysis, and personal testimony, Lou Ms. Femme shows that enbyphobia (the hostility toward nonbinary identities) is not random, but a systemic form of oppression rooted in colonialism, patriarchy, and global power dynamics. Through this lens, the author proposes a feminism that transcends traditional boundaries, an intersectional enbyfeminism that recognizes the overlap of gender discrimination, racism, classism, and other marginalizations. This feminism is anticolonial, opposing the violent historicization of bodies and identities, and degendering, because it questions rigid, normative categories of sex and gender. The book is an urgent and open call to rethink our models of gender to imagine and build freer, more inclusive, and more just worlds.

Black in Shape by Marianna The Influenza (Plurali Editrice 2023)

A powerful autobiographical essay that deconstructs the stereotypes surrounding Black and fat bodies, boldly confronting the structural racism and fatphobia embedded in today’s society. Marianna turns personal experience into an act of collective resistance, inviting us to recognize the plurality of bodies and challenge the oppressive norms that try to suppress their visibility and freedom. With a direct, engaging style, the book portrays the body as a battleground for marginalized identities, proposing a path of self-determination and love that is also a political struggle.

Ugly by Giulia Basi (Rizzoli 2022)

A sincere and intense exploration of the often conflicted relationship many people have with their own bodies in a society ruled by rigid and often unattainable beauty standards. The author calls for a dismantling of imposed beauty ideals and a rediscovery of the value of authenticity and diversity. With writing that combines emotional force and critical insight, the book outlines a path of radical self-acceptance and personal autonomy as an act of social liberation that challenges normalized expectations and promotes a new way of inhabiting our bodies, free from external judgment and constraint.