Released in 2019, Melissa Panarello’s novel Il primo dolore focuses on the moment of childbirth. Two bodies of two women giving birth in two different spaces: the hospital and the home. The interaction between the gendered body and space is fundamental: it is indeed space that limits or, on the contra- ry, supports the generative power of the body. Between opposition (body vs. space) and collaboration (body with space), Panarello’s novel is in line with contemporary feminist reflections on hypermedicalisation while linking up with the historical current of feminism of difference.

Released in 2019, Melissa Panarello’s novel Il primo dolore focuses on the moment of childbirth. Two bodies of two women giving birth in two different spaces: the hospital and the home. The interaction between the gendered body and space is fundamental: it is indeed space that limits or, on the contra- ry, supports the generative power of the body. Between opposition (body vs. space) and collaboration (body with space), Panarello’s novel is in line with contemporary feminist reflections on hypermedicalisation while linking up with the historical current of feminism of difference.