Feminist views on sexuality widely vary. Many feminists, particularly
radical feminists
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other ...
, are highly critical of what they see as
sexual objectification
Sexual objectification is the act of treating a person solely as an object of sexual desire. Objectification more broadly means treating a person as a commodity or an object without regard to their personality or dignity. Objectification is most ...
and
sexual exploitation
Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a s ...
in the media and society. Radical feminists are often opposed to the
sex industry
The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide Sex worker, sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of s ...
, including opposition to
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
and
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, . Other feminists define themselves as
sex-positive feminists
Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a feminist movement centering on the idea that sexual freedom is an essential component of women's freedom.
Sex-positive feminism ce ...
and believe that a wide variety of expressions of female sexuality can be
empowering to women when they are
freely chosen. Some feminists support efforts to reform the sex industry to become less
sexist
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...
, such as the
feminist pornography
Feminist pornography is a genre of film developed by or for those within the sex-positive feminist movement. It was created for the purpose of promoting gender equality by portraying more bodily movements and sexual fantasies of women and member ...
movement.
Feminist sex wars
The feminist sex wars and lesbian sex wars, or simply the sex wars or porn wars, were acrimonious debates amongst
feminists
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male poi ...
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The sides were characterized by anti-porn and pro-sex groups with disagreements regarding
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
, sexual representation,
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, ,
sadomasochism
Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...
, the role of
trans women
A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...
in the lesbian community, and other sexual issues. The debate pitted
anti-pornography feminism
Feminist views on pornography range from total condemnation of the medium as an inherent form of violence against women to an embracing of some forms as a medium of feminist expression. This debate reflects larger concerns surrounding feminist vi ...
against
sex-positive feminism
Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a feminist movement centering on the idea that sexual freedom is an essential component of women's freedom.
Sex-positive feminism cen ...
, and the feminist movement was deeply divided as a result.
The feminist sex wars are sometimes viewed as part of the division that led to the end of the
second-wave feminist
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains.
W ...
era and the beginning of
third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism is an iteration of the feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second wave, Gen X and early Gen Y generations third-wav ...
.
The two sides included anti-pornography feminists and sex-positive feminists. One of the more significant clashes between the pro-sex and anti-pornography feminists occurred at the
1982 Barnard Conference on Sexuality
The Barnard Conference on Sexuality is often credited as the moment that signaled the beginning of the Feminist Sex Wars. It was held at Barnard College (a private women's liberal arts college in New York City) on April 24, 1982, and was presented ...
. Anti-pornography feminists were excluded from the events' planning committee, so they staged rallies outside the conference to show their disdain.
Feminist criticism of sexual exploitation and the sex industry
Many feminists denounce industries such as the sex industry as examples of misogynistic
exploitation
Exploitation may refer to:
*Exploitation of natural resources
*Exploitation of labour
** Forced labour
*Exploitation colonialism
*Slavery
** Sexual slavery and other forms
*Oppression
*Psychological manipulation
In arts and entertainment
*Exploi ...
. Important anti-sex industry feminists included
Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo ...
and
Catharine MacKinnon
Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, a ...
. The pair wanted civil laws restricting pornography. They viewed male sexual dominance as the root of all female oppression, and thus condemned pornography, prostitution, and other manifestations of male sexual power.
The anti-pornography movement gained ground with the creation of
Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media (WAVPM) was a feminist anti-pornography activist group based in San Francisco and an influential force in the larger feminist anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and 1980s.
History
WAVPM was ...
. During the time of the sex wars, it organized marches against the creators and distributors of pornography in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and led to
Women Against Pornography Women Against Pornography (WAP) was a radical feminist activist group based out of New York City that was influential in the anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and the 1980s.
WAP was the most well known feminist anti-pornography group out ...
,
Feminists Fighting Pornography
Feminists Fighting Pornography (FFP,Searles, Janis, ''Sexually Explicit Speech and Feminism'', ''Revista Juridica Universidad de Puerto Rico'', vol. 63, p. 471, at p. 488 n. 92 (1994). pronounced /fip/) was a political activist organization against ...
, and similarly-oriented organizations and efforts across the United States.
Sex-positive feminism
The response by "sex-positive feminists" was one that promoted sex as an avenue of pleasure for women.
Gayle Rubin
Gayle S. Rubin (born January 1, 1949 in South Carolina) is an American cultural anthropologist best known as an activist and theorist of sex and gender politics. She has written on a range of subjects including feminism, sadomasochism, prostitut ...
and
Patrick Califia
Patrick Califia (born 1954; formerly also known as Pat Califia and by the last name Califia-Rice) is an American writer of non-fiction essays about sexuality and of erotic fiction and poetry. Califia is a bisexual trans man. Prior to transition ...
were influential in this part of the movement.
Other feminists who identify as "sex-positive" include
Ellen Willis
Ellen Jane Willis (December 14, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American left-wing political essayist, journalist, activist, feminist, and pop music critic. A 2014 collection of her essays, ''The Essential Ellen Willis,'' received the Nation ...
,
Kathy Acker
Kathy Acker (April 18, 1947 isputed– November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, playwright, essayist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that dealt with themes such as childhood trau ...
,
Susie Bright
Susannah Bright (born March 25, 1958) is an American feminist, author, journalist, critic, editor, publisher, producer, and performer, often on the subject of politics and sexuality.
She is the recipient of the 2017 Humanist Feminist Award, and ...
,
Carol Queen
Carol Queen (born 1957) is an American author, editor, sociologist, and sexologist active in the sex-positive feminism movement. Queen is a two time Grand Marshal of San Francisco LGBTQ Pride. Queen has written on human sexuality in books such as ...
,
Annie Sprinkle
Annie M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg on July 23, 1954) is an American certified sexologist, performance artist, former sex worker, and advocate for sex work and health care. Citing: Sprinkle has worked as a prostitute, sex educator, femi ...
,
Avedon Carol,
Tristan Taormino
Tristan Taormino (born May 9, 1971) is an American feminist author, columnist, sex educator, activist, editor, speaker, radio host, and pornographic film director. She is most recently known for her book ''Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Susta ...
,
Rachel Kramer Bussel
Rachel Kramer Bussel (born 1975) is an author, columnist, and editor, specializing in erotica. She previously studied at the New York University School of Law and earned her bachelor's degree in political science and women's studies from the U ...
,
Nina Hartley
Marie Louise Hartman (born March 11, 1959), known professionally as Nina Hartley, is an American pornographic film actress described by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world".
Early life and education
Hartley was born on March 11, 1959 in Berk ...
, and
Betty Dodson
Betty Dodson (August 24, 1929October 31, 2020) was an American sex educator. An artist by training, she exhibited erotic art in New York, before pioneering the pro-sex feminist movement. Dodson's workshops and manuals encourage women to masturb ...
. The Sex-positive feminism movement has become more popular in current times.
Feminism and pornography
Feminist views of pornography range from condemnation of
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, as a form of
violence against women
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often consi ...
, to an embracing of some forms of pornography as a medium of feminist expression. Feminist debate on this issue reflects larger concerns surrounding feminist views on sexuality, and is closely related to
feminist debates on prostitution,
BDSM
BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
, and other issues. Pornography has been one of the most divisive issues in
feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
, particularly among feminists in Anglophone countries.
Anti-pornography feminism
Radical feminist opponents of pornography—such as
Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo ...
,
Catharine MacKinnon
Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, a ...
,
Robin Morgan
Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...
,
Diana Russell,
Alice Schwarzer
Alice Sophie Schwarzer (born 3 December 1942) is a German journalist and prominent feminist. She is founder and publisher of the German feminist journal '' EMMA''. Beginning in France, she became a forerunner of feminist positions against anti-ab ...
,
Gail Dines
Gail Dines (born 29 July 1958) is professor emerita of sociology and women's studies at Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts.
A radical feminist, Dines specializes in the study of pornography. Described in 2010 as the world's leading anti-p ...
, and
Robert Jensen—argue that pornography is harmful to women, and constitutes strong causality or facilitation of violence against women. Anti-pornography feminists, notably MacKinnon, charge that the production of pornography entails physical, psychological, and/or economic
coercion
Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
of the women who perform and model in it. This is said to be true even when the women are being presented as enjoying themselves.
[Shrage, Laurie. (2007-07-13)]
"Feminist Perspectives on Sex Markets: Pornography"
In: ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...
''.
Anti-pornography feminists hold the view that pornography contributes to
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
, arguing that in pornographic performances the actresses are reduced to mere receptacles—objects—for sexual use and abuse by men. They argue that the narrative is usually formed around men's pleasure as the only goal of sexual activity, and that the women are shown in a subordinate role. Some opponents believe pornographic films tend to show women as being extremely passive, or that the acts which are performed on the women are typically abusive and solely for the pleasure of their sex partner. On-face ejaculation and anal rape are increasingly popular among men, following trends in porn.
[Bindel, Julie, ''The Truth About the Porn Industry: Gail Dines, the Author of an Explosive New Book About the Sex Industry, on Why Pornography Has Never Been a Greater Threat to Our Relationships'', in ''The'' (U.K.) ''Guardian'', Jul. 2, 2010, section ''Life & Style'', subsection ''Women''](_blank)
as accessed Jul. 17, 2010 (Wikipedia has an article about Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel (born 20 July 1962) is an English radical feminist writer. She is also co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women, which has aimed to help women who have been prosecuted for assaulting or killing violent male partners.
A ...
). MacKinnon and Dworkin defined pornography as "the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women through pictures or words".
[p 176]
Anti-censorship and pro-pornography feminists
Pornography is seen as being a medium for women's sexual expression in this view. Sex-positive feminists view many
radical feminist
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a Political radicalism, radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are al ...
views on sexuality, including views on pornography, as being as oppressive as those of
patriarchal
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...
religions and ideologies, and argue that anti-pornography feminist discourse ignores and trivializes women's sexual agency.
Ellen Willis
Ellen Jane Willis (December 14, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American left-wing political essayist, journalist, activist, feminist, and pop music critic. A 2014 collection of her essays, ''The Essential Ellen Willis,'' received the Nation ...
(who coined the term "pro-sex feminism") states "As we saw it, the claim that 'pornography is violence against women' was code for the neo-Victorian idea that men want sex and women endure it."
Sex-positive feminists take a variety of views towards existing pornography. Many sex-positive feminists see pornography as subverting many traditional ideas about women that they oppose, such as ideas that women do not like sex generally, only enjoy sex in a relational context, or that women only enjoy
vanilla sex
Conventional sex, colloquially known as vanilla sex, is sexual behavior that is within the range of normality for a culture or subculture, and typically involves sex which does not include elements of BDSM, kink, or fetishism.
Description
What i ...
. They also argue that pornography sometimes shows women in sexually dominant roles and presents women with a greater variety of body types than are typical of mainstream entertainment and fashion.
Many feminists regardless of their views on pornography are opposed on principle to censorship. Even many feminists who see pornography as a sexist institution, also see censorship (including MacKinnon's civil law approach) as an evil. In its mission statement,
Feminists for Free Expression
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that socie ...
argues that censorship has never reduced violence, but historically been used to silence women and stifle efforts for social change. They point to the birth control literature of
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control ...
, the feminist plays of
Holly Hughes, and works like ''
Our Bodies, Ourselves
''Our Bodies, Ourselves'' is a book about women's health and sexuality produced by the nonprofit organization Our Bodies Ourselves (originally called the Boston Women's Health Book Collective). First published in 1970, it contains information rel ...
'' and ''
The Well of Loneliness
''The Well of Loneliness'' is a lesbian novel by British author Radclyffe Hall that was first published in 1928 by Jonathan Cape. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose " sexual inversion" (hom ...
'' as examples of feminist sexual speech which has been the target of censorship. FFE further argues that the attempt to fix social problems through censorship, "divert
attention from the substantive causes of social ills and offer a cosmetic, dangerous 'quick fix.'" They argue that instead a free and vigorous
marketplace of ideas
The marketplace of ideas is a rationale for freedom of expression based on an analogy to the Economics, economic concept of a free market. The marketplace of ideas holds that the truth will emerge from the competition of ideas in free, transparent ...
is the best assurance for achieving feminist goals in a democratic society.
Additionally, some feminists such as
Wendy Kaminer
Wendy Kaminer (born December 28, 1949) is an American lawyer and writer. She has written several books on contemporary social issues, including ''A Fearful Freedom: Women's Flight From Equality'', about the conflict between egalitarian and protect ...
, while opposed to pornography are also opposed to legal efforts to censor or ban pornography. In the late 1970s, Kaminer worked with
Women Against Pornography Women Against Pornography (WAP) was a radical feminist activist group based out of New York City that was influential in the anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and the 1980s.
WAP was the most well known feminist anti-pornography group out ...
, where she advocated in favor of private
consciousness raising
Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or ...
efforts and against legal efforts to censor
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, . She contributed a chapter to the anti-pornography anthology, ''Take Back the Night'', wherein she defended
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
freedoms and explained the dangers of seeking legal solutions to the perceived problem of pornography. She opposed efforts by
Catharine MacKinnon
Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, a ...
and
Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo ...
to define pornography as a civil rights violation, and she critiqued the pro-censorship movement in a 1992 article in ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' entitled "Feminists Against the
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
."
=Feminist pornography
=
Feminist pornography is
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, that is produced by and with feminist women. It is a small but growing segment of the
pornography industry
The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related ...
. According to
Tristan Taormino
Tristan Taormino (born May 9, 1971) is an American feminist author, columnist, sex educator, activist, editor, speaker, radio host, and pornographic film director. She is most recently known for her book ''Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Susta ...
, "Feminist porn both responds to dominant images with alternative ones and creates its own iconography."
Some pornographic actresses such as
Nina Hartley
Marie Louise Hartman (born March 11, 1959), known professionally as Nina Hartley, is an American pornographic film actress described by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world".
Early life and education
Hartley was born on March 11, 1959 in Berk ...
,
Ovidie
Ovidie is a French director, actress, producer, journalist, ex porn actress and a writer. First known as a porn actress from 1999 to 2003, she has since directed pornographic films as well as documentaries and has written several books.
Overvie ...
,
Madison Young, and
Sasha Grey
Marina Ann Hantzis (born March 14, 1988), known professionally as Sasha Grey, is an American actress, model, writer, musician, and former pornographic actress. Grey began her acting career in the pornographic film industry, winning 15 awards for ...
are also self-described sex-positive feminists, and state that they do not see themselves as victims of sexism. They defend their decision to perform in pornography as freely chosen, and argue that much of what they do on camera is an expression of their sexuality. It has also been pointed out that in pornography, women generally earn more than their male counterparts. Some porn performers such as Nina Hartley are active in the
sex workers' rights
Sex workers' rights encompass a variety of aims being pursued globally by individuals and organizations that specifically involve the human, health, and labor rights of sex workers and their clients. The goals of these movements are diverse, but ...
movement.
The Swedish director and feminist Suzanne Osten voiced scepticism that "feminist pornography" actually exists, referring to her belief that pornography is inherently objectifying and that feminist pornography would therefore constitute an
oxymoron
An oxymoron (usual plural oxymorons, more rarely oxymora) is a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposing meanings within a word or phrase that creates an ostensible self-contradiction. An oxymoron can be used as a rhetorical devi ...
. The American radical feminist periodical
off our backs
''Off Our Backs'' (stylized in all lowercase; ''oob'') was an American radical feminist periodical that ran from 1970 to 2008. It began publishing on February 27, 1970, with a twelve-page tabloid first issue. From 2002 the editors adapted it ...
has denounced feminist pornography as "pseudo-feminist" and "so-called 'feminist' pornography".
Feminism and prostitution
As with many issues within the feminist movement, there exists a diversity of opinions regarding
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
. Many of these positions can be loosely arranged into an overarching standpoint that is generally either critical or supportive of prostitution and
sex work
Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to volunt ...
. Anti-prostitution feminists hold that prostitution is a form of exploitation of women and male dominance over women, and a practice which is the result of the existing patriarchal societal order. These feminists argue that prostitution has a very negative effect, both on the prostitutes themselves and on society as a whole, as it reinforces stereotypical views about women, who are seen as sex objects which can be used and abused by men. Other feminists hold that prostitution and other forms of
sex work
Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to volunt ...
can be valid choices for women and men who choose to engage in it. In this view, prostitution must be differentiated from forced prostitution, and feminists should support
sex worker activism against abuses by both the sex industry and the legal system. The disagreement between these two feminist stances has proven particularly contentious, and may be comparable to the
feminist sex wars
The feminist sex wars, also known as the lesbian sex wars, or simply the sex wars or porn wars, are terms used to refer to collective debates amongst feminists regarding a number of issues broadly relating to sexuality and sexual activity. Diff ...
of the late twentieth century.
Anti-prostitution feminism
A proportion of feminists are strongly opposed to prostitution, as they see the practice as a form of violence against women, which should not be tolerated by society. Feminists who hold such views on prostitution include
Kathleen Barry
Kathleen Barry (born January 22, 1941) is an American sociologist and feminist. After researching and publishing books on international human sex trafficking, she cofounded the United Nations NGO, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW ...
,
Melissa Farley
Melissa Farley (born 1942) is an American clinical psychologist, researcher: "''Dr. Melissa Farley, a psychologist and researcher at the Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco who directed the study with colleagues from Turkey and Af ...
,
Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel (born 20 July 1962) is an English radical feminist writer. She is also co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women, which has aimed to help women who have been prosecuted for assaulting or killing violent male partners.
A ...
,
Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys (born 13 May 1948) is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.
Jeffreys' argument that the "se ...
,
Catharine MacKinnon
Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, a ...
and
Laura Lederer
Laura J. Lederer (born 1951) is a pioneer in the work to stop human trafficking. She is a legal scholar and former Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons in the Office for Democracy and Global Affairs of the United States Department of State. ...
.
These feminists argue that, in most cases, prostitution is not a conscious and calculated choice. They say that most women who become prostitutes do so because they were forced or coerced by a pimp or by human trafficking, or, when it is an independent decision, it is generally the result of extreme poverty and lack of opportunity, or of serious underlying problems, such as drug addiction, past trauma (such as child sexual abuse) and other unfortunate circumstances. These feminists point out that women from the lowest socioeconomic classes—impoverished women, women with a low level of education, women from the most disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities—are overrepresented in prostitution all over the world. "If prostitution is a free choice, why are the women with the fewest choices the ones most often found doing it?" (MacKinnon, 1993). A large percentage of prostitutes polled in one study of 475 people involved in prostitution reported that they were in a difficult period of their lives and most wanted to leave the occupation.
Catharine MacKinnon argues that "In prostitution, women have sex with men they would never otherwise have sex with. The money thus acts as a form of force, not as a measure of consent. It acts like physical force does in rape."
Some anti-prostitution scholars hold that true consent in prostitution is not possible. Barbara Sullivan says, ''"In the academic literature on prostitution there are very few authors who argue that valid consent to prostitution is possible. Most suggest that consent to prostitution is impossible or at least unlikely''.". "''(...) most authors suggest that consent to prostitution is deeply problematic if not impossible (...) most authors have argued that consent to prostitution is impossible. For radical feminists this is because prostitution is always a coercive sexual practice. Others simply suggest that economic coercion makes the sexual consent of sex workers highly problematic if not impossible...''". Finally, abolitionists believe no person can be said to truly consent to their own oppression and no people should have the right to consent to the oppression of others. In the words of
Kathleen Barry
Kathleen Barry (born January 22, 1941) is an American sociologist and feminist. After researching and publishing books on international human sex trafficking, she cofounded the United Nations NGO, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW ...
, consent is not a "good divining rod as to the existence of oppression, and consent to violation is a fact of oppression. Oppression cannot effectively be gauged according to the degree of "consent," since even in slavery there was some consent, if consent is defined as inability to see, or feel any alternative."
[Barry, K "The Prostitution of Sexuality: The Global Exploitation of Women" New York: NYU Press 1995]
Pro-sex work and pro-sex worker's rights feminists
Unlike those feminists critical of prostitution, pro-sex work perspectives do not concede that prostitution sexual acts have an inherent element of coercion, exploitation, and domination. As such, pro-sex feminists instead assert that sex-work can be a positive experience for women who have employed their autonomy to make an informed decision to engage in prostitution.
Many feminists, particularly those associated with the
sex workers' rights
Sex workers' rights encompass a variety of aims being pursued globally by individuals and organizations that specifically involve the human, health, and labor rights of sex workers and their clients. The goals of these movements are diverse, but ...
movement or
sex-positive feminism
Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a feminist movement centering on the idea that sexual freedom is an essential component of women's freedom.
Sex-positive feminism cen ...
, argue that the act of selling sex need not inherently be exploitative; but that attempts to abolish prostitution, and the attitudes that lead to such attempts, lead to an abusive climate for sex workers that must be changed. In this view, prostitution, along with other forms of
sex work
Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to volunt ...
, can be valid choices for the women and men who engage in it. This perspective has led to the rise since the 1970s of an international sex workers' rights movement, comprising organizations such as
COYOTE
The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...
, the
International Prostitutes Collective
The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) is a campaigning group which supports the Decriminalizing sex work, decriminalisation of prostitution, Sex workers' rights, sex workers' right to recognition and safety, and the provision of financia ...
, the
Sex Workers Outreach Project, and other
sex worker rights groups.
An important argument advanced by pro-sex work feminists such as Carol Queen highlights that all too often feminists who are critical of prostitution have failed to adequately consider the viewpoints of women who are themselves engaged in sex work, choosing instead to base their arguments in theory and outdated experiences. Feminists who do not support the radical anti-prostitution view, argue that there are serious problems with the anti-prostitution position, one of which is that, according to Sarah Bromberg, "it evolves from a political theory that is over-verbalized, generalized, and too often uses stereotypical notions of what a prostitute is. The radical
nti-prostitutionfeminist views are ... not always delineated sufficiently to support a credible theory that prostitution degrades all women".
Pro-sex work feminists say that the sex industry is not a "monolith", that it is large and varied, that people are sex workers for many different reasons, and that it is unproductive to target prostitution as an institution. Instead, they believe things should be done to improve the lives of the people within the industry.
Feminism and stripping
Many feminists consider
strip club
A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other Erotic dancing, erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or Bar (establishment), bar style, and can also ...
s to be insulting to women's human rights and
dignity
Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable ...
. Feminists and women's rights activists in
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
succeeded in outlawing
strip clubs
Strip or Stripping may refer to:
Places
* Aouzou Strip, a strip of land following the northern border of Chad that had been claimed and occupied by Libya
* Caprivi Strip, narrow strip of land extending from the Okavango Region of Namibia to ...
in March 2010.
The law officially took effect on July 31, 2010.
The Icelandic feminist
Siv Friðleifsdóttir
Siv Friðleifsdóttir (born 10 August 1962) (transliterated Siv Fridleifsdottir) is an Icelandic politician. Rarely used full name is Björg Siv Juhlin Friðleifsdóttir.
She is half-Norwegian and she partly grew up in Norway, where she spent al ...
was the first presenter of the bill.
Johanna Sigurðardottir, Iceland's prime minister, said: "The Nordic countries are leading the way on women's equality, recognizing women as equal citizens rather than commodities for sale."
The politician behind the bill,
Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir
Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir (born 31 July 1955) is an Icelandic politician with the Left-Green Movement. She was a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for Reykjavík constituencies from 1999. She didn't get re-elected in 2009. She was Mi ...
, said: "It is not acceptable that women or people in general are a product to be sold."
The vote of the
Althing
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembly ...
was praised by British radical feminist
Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel (born 20 July 1962) is an English radical feminist writer. She is also co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women, which has aimed to help women who have been prosecuted for assaulting or killing violent male partners.
A ...
, who declared Iceland to be "the world's most feminist country."
Others feminists believe that stripping can be sexually empowering and feminist. The
Lusty Lady
The Lusty Lady is a pair of defunct peep show establishments, one in downtown Seattle and one in the North Beach district of San Francisco. The Lusty Lady was made famous by the labor activism of its San Francisco workers and the publication o ...
is a
peep show
A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot.
Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the development of the ci ...
establishment in
North Beach, San Francisco
North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown, the Financial District, and Russian Hill. The neighborhood is San Francisco's "Little Italy" and has historically been home to a large Italian American pop ...
, that was established by a group of strippers who wanted to create a feminist,
worker owned strip club. Additionally, some feminists believe that
Pole dancing can be a feminist act. In 2009, a self-identified "feminist pole dancer" named Zahra Stardust was the
Australian Sex Party
The Australian Sex Party was an Australian political party founded in 2009 in response to concerns over the purported increasing influence of religion in Australian politics. The party was born out of an adult-industry lobby group, the Eros Asso ...
's candidate in the
Bradfield by-election. The concept of "feminist pole dancing" has been ridiculed and denounced by feminists and non-feminists alike as "just plain daft" and symptomatic of "the end of feminism."
Feminism and BDSM
Feminist Views on BDSM vary widely from rejection to acceptance and all points in between. As an example, the two polarizing frameworks are being compared here. The history between feminists and
BDSM
BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
practitioners has been controversial. The two most extreme positions are those who believe that feminism and BDSM are mutually exclusive beliefs, and those who believe that BDSM practices are an expression of sexual freedom.
Feminist opposition to BDSM and sadomasochism
A number of radical feminists, such as
Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo ...
and
Susan Griffin
Susan Griffin (born January 26, 1943) is a radical feminist philosopher, essayist and playwright particularly known for her innovative, hybrid-form ecofeminist works.
Life
Griffin was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1943 and has resided in ...
, regard
BDSM
BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
as a form of
woman-hating violence,
The book ''
Against Sadomasochism: A Radical Feminist Analysis'' includes essays and interviews from numerous feminists who criticize sadomasochism, including
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was aw ...
,
Robin Morgan
Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...
,
Kathleen Barry
Kathleen Barry (born January 22, 1941) is an American sociologist and feminist. After researching and publishing books on international human sex trafficking, she cofounded the United Nations NGO, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW ...
,
Diana E. H. Russell,
Susan Star
Susan Leigh Star (1954–2010) was an American sociologist. She specialized in the study of information in modern society; information worlds; information infrastructure; classification and standardization; sociology of science; sociology of wo ...
,
Ti-Grace Atkinson
Grace Atkinson (born November 9, 1938), better known as Ti-Grace Atkinson, is an American radical feminist activist, writer and philosopher.
Life and career
Atkinson was born into a prominent Louisiana family. Named after her grandmother, Gra ...
,
John Stoltenberg
John Stoltenberg (born 1944) is an American author, activist, magazine editor, college lecturer, playwright, and theater reviewer who identifies his political perspective as radical feminist. For several years he has worked for ''DC Metro Theat ...
,
Sarah Hoagland
Sarah Lucia Hoagland (born 4 June 1945 in Denver, Colorado) is the Bernard Brommel Distinguished Research Professor and Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Women's Studies at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.
Biography
She authored ' ...
,
Susan Griffin
Susan Griffin (born January 26, 1943) is a radical feminist philosopher, essayist and playwright particularly known for her innovative, hybrid-form ecofeminist works.
Life
Griffin was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1943 and has resided in ...
,
Cerridwen Fallingstar
Cerridwen Fallingstar (born Cheri Lesh, November 15, 1952), is an American Wiccan priestess, shamanic witch, and author. Since the late 1970s she has written, taught, and lectured about magic, ritual, and metaphysics, and is considered a leading a ...
,
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde (; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, womanist, radical feminist, professor, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," who ...
, and
Judith Butler
Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...
. Feminist organizations that publicly opposed S/M/ include
Lavender Menace
The Lavender Menace or revolution was an informal group of lesbian radical feminists formed to protest the exclusion of lesbians and their issues from the feminist movement at the Second Congress to Unite Women in New York City on May 1, 1970.
Me ...
, the
New York Radical Feminists
New York Radical Feminists (NYRF) was a radical feminist group founded by Shulamith Firestone and Anne Koedt in 1969, after they had left Redstockings and The Feminists, respectively. Firestone's and Koedt's desire to start this new group was a ...
(NYRF),
Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media (WAVPM) was a feminist anti-pornography activist group based in San Francisco and an influential force in the larger feminist anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and 1980s.
History
WAVPM was ...
. In 1982, a leaflet was produced by the "Coalition for a Feminist Sexuality and Against Sadomasochism", an ad-hoc coalition put together by
Women Against Pornography Women Against Pornography (WAP) was a radical feminist activist group based out of New York City that was influential in the anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and the 1980s.
WAP was the most well known feminist anti-pornography group out ...
to protest the
Barnard Conference. The NYRF's NYRF was listed among the signatories to the leaflet.
Pro-BDSM and BDSM-practicing feminists
While many radical feminists are opposed to BDSM, other feminists view S/M as an ideal feminist expression of
sexual freedom
A sexual norm can refer to a personal or a social norm. Most cultures have social norms regarding sexuality, and define ''normal sexuality'' to consist only of certain sex acts between individuals who meet specific criteria of age, consanguinity ...
while other feminists say that BDSM, and more particularly SM, reinforce patriarchy and that these practices are contradictory to feminism. Additionally, some feminists are open about practicing BDSM. Many sex-positive feminists see BDSM as a valid form of expression of
female sexuality
Human female sexuality encompasses a broad range of behaviors and processes, including female sexual identity and Human sexual activity, sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religious ...
. Some lesbian feminists practice BDSM and regard it as part of their sexual identity. Jessica Wakeman wrote of her own experience with SM activities in a follow-up interview after her articl
First Time For Everything: Getting Spankedwas published in 2009. At the time of the interview in October, 2010, Wakeman had been writing about feminist issues, including feminism and media criticism, feminism and politics, and feminism and sex for about eight years and considered herself to be a rather active feminist.
Wakeman discussed how she is able to enjoy spanking play and being dominated and still be a feminist.
Like other feminist BDSM practitioners, Wakeman rejects the argument that women are taught what they enjoy and led to be submissive by a dominant sexist power structure.
There are several BDSM organizations that cater to lesbian and feminist women, including the
Lesbian Sex Mafia The Lesbian Sex Mafia (LSM) is an information and support group for bisexual women and lesbians interested in sexual activities involving BDSM, fetishes, costumes, etc. Founded in 1981 by Jo Arnone and Dorothy Allison, it is located in New York Cit ...
and the group
Samois
Samois was a lesbian- feminist BDSM organization based in San Francisco that existed from 1978 to 1983. It was the first lesbian BDSM group in the United States. It took its name from Samois-sur-Seine, the location of the fictional estate of Ann ...
that was founded by
Patrick Califia
Patrick Califia (born 1954; formerly also known as Pat Califia and by the last name Califia-Rice) is an American writer of non-fiction essays about sexuality and of erotic fiction and poetry. Califia is a bisexual trans man. Prior to transition ...
and
Gayle Rubin
Gayle S. Rubin (born January 1, 1949 in South Carolina) is an American cultural anthropologist best known as an activist and theorist of sex and gender politics. She has written on a range of subjects including feminism, sadomasochism, prostitut ...
.
Feminism and celibacy
The feminist group
Cell 16, founded in 1968 by
Roxanne Dunbar, was known for its program of
celibacy
Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the ...
and separation from men, among other things.
[Echols, Alice. ''Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967–75'', University of Minnesota Press, 1990, , p164] Considered too extreme by many mainstream feminists, the organization acted as a sort of
hard left
In the United Kingdom, the hard left are the left-wing political movements and ideas outside the mainstream centre-left.*
*
Term
The term was first used in the context of debates within both the Labour Party and the broader left in the 1980 ...
vanguard
The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.
History
The vanguard derives fr ...
. It has been cited as the first organization to advance the concept of
separatist feminism
Feminist separatism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's separation from men.Christine Skelton, Becky Francis, ''Feminism and the Schooling Scandal'', Taylor & Francis, 2009 ,p. 104 Because much of ...
.
In ''No More Fun and Games'', the organization's radical feminist periodical, Cell Members Roxanne Dunbar and Lisa Leghorn advised women to "separate from men who are not consciously working for female liberation", but advised periods of celibacy, rather than lesbian relationships, which they considered to be "nothing more than a personal solution." The periodical also published Dana Densmore's article "On Celibacy" (October 1968), which stated in part, "One hangup to liberation is a supposed 'need' for sex. It is something that must be refuted, coped with, demythified, or the cause of female liberation is doomed. Already we see girls, thoroughly liberated in their own heads, understanding their oppression with terrible clarity trying, deliberately and a trace hysterically, to make themselves attractive to men, men for whom they have no respect, men they may even hate, because of 'a basic sexual-emotional need.' Sex is not essential to life, as eating is. Some people go through their whole lives without engaging in it at all, including fine, warm, happy people. It is a myth that this makes one bitter, shriveled up, twisted. The big stigma of life-long virginity is on women anyway, created by men because woman's purpose in life is biological and if she doesn't fulfill that she's warped and unnatural and 'must be all cobwebs inside.'"
The Feminists
The Feminists (also known as Feminists—A Political Organization to Annihilate Sex Roles, formerly as October 17th Movement) Greer, Germaine (1970). '' The Female Eunuch''. New York: McGraw-Hill, p. 295. was a second-wave radical feminist gr ...
, also known as Feminists—A Political Organization to Annihilate Sex Roles, was a radical feminist group active in New York City from 1968 to 1973; it at first advocated that women practice celibacy, and later came to advocate
political lesbianism
Political lesbianism is a phenomenon within feminism, primarily second-wave feminism and radical feminism; it includes, but is not limited to, lesbian separatism. Political lesbianism asserts that sexual orientation is a political and feminist ...
. Political lesbianism embraces the theory that
sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
is a choice, and advocates
lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
ism as a positive alternative to
heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to ...
for women.
[Julie Bindel]
Location, location, orientation
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', March 27, 2004 Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys (born 13 May 1948) is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.
Jeffreys' argument that the "se ...
helped develop the concept by co-writing with other members of the
Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group
The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group was a feminist organisation active in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s. While there were a number of contemporary revolutionary feminist organisations in the UK, the Leeds group was 'internation ...
a pamphlet titled ''Love Your Enemy?: The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism'', which stated, "We do think... that all feminists can and should be lesbians. Our definition of a political lesbian is a woman-identified woman who does not fuck men. It does not mean compulsory sexual activity with women."
Thus, some political lesbians chose to be celibate or identified as
asexual.
In April 1987 the manifesto of the Southern Women's Writing Collective, titled
Sex resistance in heterosexual arrangements: Manifesto of the Southern Women's Writing Collective' was read in New York City at a conference called "The Sexual Liberals and the Attack on Feminism".
This manifesto stated in part, "In contrast to the pro-sex movement, we are calling ourselves Women Against Sex (WAS)...The sex resister understands her act as a political one: her goal is not only personal integrity for herself but political freedom for all women. She resists on three fronts: she resists all male-constructed sexual needs, she resists the misnaming of her act as prudery and she especially resists the patriarchy's attempt to make its work of subordinating women easier by consensually constructing her desire in its own oppressive image."
In 1991 feminist activist
Sonia Johnson
Sonia Ann Johnson, (''née'' Harris; born February 27, 1936) is an American feminist activist and writer. She was an outspoken supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and in the late 1970s was publicly critical of the position of the Chur ...
wrote in her book ''The Ship That Sailed into the Living Room: Sex and Intimacy Reconsidered'', "Nearly four years after I began my rebellion against relation/sex/slave Ships, experience and my Wise Old Woman are telling me that sex as we know it is a patriarchal construct and ''has'' no rightful, natural place in our lives, no authentic function or ways. Synonymous with hierarchy/control, sex is engineered as part of the siege against our wholeness and power."
Feminism and sexual orientation
Feminist approaches to the issue of
sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
widely vary. Feminist views on sexual orientation are often influenced by the personal experiences of feminists, as expressed in the feminist slogan "
the personal is political
''The personal is political'', also termed ''The private is political'', is a political argument used as a rallying slogan of student movement and second-wave feminism from the late 1960s. In the context of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1 ...
." Because of this, many feminists view sexual orientation is a political issue and not merely a matter of individual sexual choice or preference.
Feminism and asexuality
A 1977 paper titled ''
Asexual and Autoerotic Women: Two Invisible Groups'', by Myra T. Johnson, may be the first paper explicitly devoted to asexuality in humans. In it Johnson portrays asexual women as invisible, "oppressed by a consensus that they are nonexistent," and left behind by both the
sexual revolution
The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the 1 ...
and the feminist movement.
A 2010 paper written by
Karli June Cerankowski and Megan Milks, titled ''New Orientations: Asexuality and Its Implications for Theory and Practice'', states that society has deemed "
GBT and GBT may refer to:
Transport
* Gambat railway station, in Pakistan
* Gorgan Airport, in Iran
* Gotthard Base Tunnel, in Switzerland
* Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority, in Connecticut
Other uses
* Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium, in Surabaya, Indo ...
female sexuality as empowered or repressed. The asexual movement challenges that assumption by challenging many of the basic tenets of
pro-sex feminism n which it isalready defined as repressive or anti-sex sexualities."
Some
political lesbians
Political lesbianism is a phenomenon within feminism, primarily second-wave feminism and radical feminism; it includes, but is not limited to, lesbian separatism. Political lesbianism asserts that sexual orientation is a political and feminist ...
identify as asexual. Political lesbianism embraces the theory that sexual orientation is a choice, and advocates
lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
ism as a positive alternative to
heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to ...
for women.
Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys (born 13 May 1948) is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.
Jeffreys' argument that the "se ...
helped develop the concept by co-writing with other members of the
Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group
The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group was a feminist organisation active in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s. While there were a number of contemporary revolutionary feminist organisations in the UK, the Leeds group was 'internation ...
a pamphlet titled ''Love Your Enemy?: The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism'' which stated, "We do think... that all feminists can and should be lesbians. Our definition of a political lesbian is a woman-identified woman who does not fuck men. It does not mean compulsory sexual activity with women."
Feminism and bisexuality
The lesbian quarterly ''
Common Lives/Lesbian Lives'' had a policy that all work published in CL/LL was produced by self-defined lesbians, and all of the project's volunteers were lesbians. Due to this policy, a complaint was filed with the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
Human Rights Commission
A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights.
The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...
by a bisexual woman whose submission to the magazine was not published.
A number of women who were at one time involved in lesbian-feminist activism have since
come out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
as bisexual after realizing their attractions to men. A widely studied example of lesbian-bisexual conflict within feminism was the Northampton Pride March during the years between 1989 and 1993, where many feminists involved debated over whether bisexuals should be included and whether or not bisexuality was compatible with feminism. Common lesbian-feminist critiques leveled at bisexuality were that bisexuality was
anti-feminist, that bisexuality was a form of
false consciousness
In Marxist theory, false consciousness is a term describing the ways in which material, ideological, and institutional processes are said to mislead members of the proletariat and other class actors within capitalist societies, concealing the ex ...
, and that bisexual women who pursue relationships with men were "deluded and desperate." However, tensions between bisexual feminists and lesbian feminists have eased since the 1990s, as bisexual women have become more accepted within the feminist community.
Feminism and gay men
In her 2003 book ''Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective'', Australian radical lesbian feminist
Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys (born 13 May 1948) is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.
Jeffreys' argument that the "se ...
advances the position that
lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
culture has been negatively affected by emulating the
sexist
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...
influence of the gay male subculture of
dominant/submissive sexuality. While she stresses that many gay men who were members of the
gay liberation
The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii. ...
movement repudiated
sadomasochism
Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...
, she writes that the dominant gay male perspective has promoted sadomasochistic sexuality to the detriment of lesbians and feminist women.
However, some gay men such as
Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo ...
's husband
John Stoltenberg
John Stoltenberg (born 1944) is an American author, activist, magazine editor, college lecturer, playwright, and theater reviewer who identifies his political perspective as radical feminist. For several years he has worked for ''DC Metro Theat ...
are also critical of
sadomasochism
Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...
and
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, and agree with the radical feminist and lesbian feminist criticisms of these practices. Stoltenberg wrote that sadomasochism eroticizes both violence and powerlessness. The gay
pro-feminist author Christopher N. Kendall wrote the book ''Gay Male Pornography: An Issue Of Sex Discrimination'', advancing the idea that
gay male pornography
''Gay'' is a term that Terminology of homosexuality, primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to Gay men, ...
involved
sex discrimination
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...
and should be banned under
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
's equality laws. He uses radical feminist theory to make the case that gay male pornography reinforces
misogyny
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
and
homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
.
Feminism and heterosexuality
Some heterosexual feminists believe that they have been unfairly excluded from lesbian feminist organizations. The lesbian quarterly ''
Common Lives/Lesbian Lives'' had a policy that all work published in CL/LL was produced by self-defined lesbians, and all of the project's volunteers were lesbians. Due to this policy, a complaint was filed with the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
Human Rights Commission
A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights.
The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...
by a heterosexual woman who believed she was discriminated against when not hired to be an intern. A complaint was also lodged with the collective by a bisexual woman whose submission to the magazine was not published.
Feminism and lesbianism
Lesbians have been active in the mainstream American feminist movement. The first time lesbian concerns were introduced into the
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
(NOW) came in 1969, when
Ivy Bottini
Ivy Bottini (August 15, 1926 – February 25, 2021) was an American activist for women's and LGBT rights, and a visual artist.
Personal life and career
Bottini was born in New York in August 1926. From 1944 until 1947, she attended Pratt Institu ...
, an open lesbian who was then president of the New York chapter of NOW, held a public forum titled "Is Lesbianism a Feminist Issue?".
[ Love, Barbara J.br>Feminists Who Changed America, 1963–1975]
/ref> However, National Organization for Women president Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
was against lesbian participation in the movement. In 1969 she referred to growing lesbian visibility as a "lavender menace" and fired openly lesbian newsletter editor Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown (born November 28, 1944) is an American feminist writer, best known for her coming-of-age autobiographical novel, ''Rubyfruit Jungle''. Brown was active in a number of civil rights campaigns and criticized the marginalization of le ...
, and in 1970 she engineered the expulsion of lesbians, including Ivy Bottini
Ivy Bottini (August 15, 1926 – February 25, 2021) was an American activist for women's and LGBT rights, and a visual artist.
Personal life and career
Bottini was born in New York in August 1926. From 1944 until 1947, she attended Pratt Institu ...
, from NOW's New York chapter.[Bonnie Zimmerma]
Lesbian histories and cultures: an encyclopedia
Garland Pub., 2000 p. 134[Vicki Lynn Eaklo]
Queer America: a GLBT history of the 20th century
ABC-CLIO, 2008 p. 145 In reaction, at the 1970 Congress to Unite Women, on the first evening when all four hundred feminists were assembled in the auditorium, twenty women wearing T-shirts that read "Lavender Menace" came to the front of the room and faced the audience.[Flora Davi]
Moving the mountain: the women's movement in America since 1960
University of Illinois Press, 1999 p. 264 One of the women then read their group's paper "The Woman-Identified Woman", which was the first major lesbian feminist statement.[Cheshire Calhou]
Feminism, the Family, and the Politics of the Closet: Lesbian and Gay Displacement
Oxford University Press, 2003 p. 27 The group, who later named themselves "Radicalesbians", were among the first to challenge the heterosexism of heterosexual feminists and to describe lesbian experience in positive terms.[Carolyn Zerbe Enn]
Feminist theories and feminist psychotherapies: origins, themes, and diversity
Routledge, 2004 p. 105 In 1971 NOW passed a resolution declaring "that a woman's right to her own person includes the right to define and express her own sexuality and to choose her own lifestyle," as well as a conference resolution stating that forcing lesbian mothers to stay in marriages or to live a secret existence in an effort to keep their children was unjust.[Leading the Fight , National Organization for Women](_blank)
NOW. Retrieved on 2014-07-25. That year NOW also committed to offering legal and moral support in a test case involving child custody rights of lesbian mothers. In 1973 the NOW Task Force on Sexuality and Lesbianism was established. In November 1977 the National Women's Conference
The National Women's Conference of 1977 was a four-day event during November 18–21, 1977, as organized by the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. The conference drew around, 2,000 delegates along with 15,000-20,0 ...
issued the National Plan of Action,[National Plan of Action](_blank)
/ref> which stated in part, "Congress, State, and local legislatures should enact legislation to eliminate discrimination on the basis of sexual and affectional preference in areas including, but not limited to, employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, public facilities, government funding, and the military. State legislatures should reform their penal codes or repeal State laws that restrict private sexual behavior between consenting adults. State legislatures should enact legislation that would prohibit consideration of sexual or affectional orientation as a factor in any judicial determination of child custody or visitation rights. Rather, child custody cases should be evaluated solely on the merits of which party is the better parent, without regard to that person's sexual and affectional orientation."
Lindagriffith.com (1978-01-15). Retrieved on 2014-07-25.
Del Martin
Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin (May 5, 1921 – August 27, 2008) and Phyllis Ann Lyon (November 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020) were an American lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-rights activists.
Martin and Lyon met in 1950 ...
was the first open lesbian elected to NOW, and Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon
Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin (May 5, 1921 – August 27, 2008) and Phyllis Ann Lyon (November 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020) were an American lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-rights activists.
Martin and Lyon met in 1950 ...
were the first lesbian couple to join NOW.
Lesbian feminism
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logica ...
is a cultural movement and political perspective, most influential in the 1970s and early 1980s (primarily in North America and Western Europe), that encourages women to direct their energies toward other women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logical result of feminism. Some key thinkers and activists are Charlotte Bunch
Charlotte Bunch (born October 13, 1944) is an American feminist author and organizer in women's rights and human rights movements. Bunch is currently the founding director and senior scholar at the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers ...
, Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown (born November 28, 1944) is an American feminist writer, best known for her coming-of-age autobiographical novel, ''Rubyfruit Jungle''. Brown was active in a number of civil rights campaigns and criticized the marginalization of le ...
, Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "th ...
, Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde (; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, womanist, radical feminist, professor, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," who ...
, Marilyn Frye
Marilyn Frye (born 1941) is an American philosopher and radical feminist theorist. She is known for her theories on sexism, racism, oppression, and sexuality. Her writings offer discussions of feminist topics, such as: white supremacy, male pri ...
, Mary Daly
Mary Daly (October 16, 1928–January 3, 2010) was an American radical feminist philosopher and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at the Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years. Once a practicing Rom ...
, Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys (born 13 May 1948) is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.
Jeffreys' argument that the "se ...
and Monique Wittig
Monique Wittig (; July 13, 1935 – January 3, 2003) was a French author, philosopher and feminist theorist who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". Her seminal work is titled ''The Straigh ...
(although the latter is more commonly associated with the emergence of queer theory). Lesbian feminism came together in the early 1970s out of dissatisfaction with second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains.
Wh ...
and the gay liberation movement
The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii. ...
.
In the words of radical lesbian feminist Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys (born 13 May 1948) is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.
Jeffreys' argument that the "se ...
, "Lesbian feminism emerged as a result of two developments: lesbians within the WLM omen's Liberation Movementbegan to create a new, distinctively feminist lesbian politics, and lesbians in the GLF (Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK and Canada. The GLF provided a ...
) left to join up with their sisters".[Jeffreys, Sheila: "Unpacking Queer Politics," p. 19. Polity, 2003.]
According to Judy Rebick
Judy Rebick (born August 15, 1945) is a Canadian writer, journalist, political activist, and feminist.
Early life
Born in Reno, Nevada, Rebick and her family moved to Toronto when she was 9. She became a socialist activist in the 1970s, joining th ...
, a leading Canadian journalist and political activist for feminism, lesbians were and always have been at the heart of the women's movement
The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such is ...
, while their issues were invisible in the same movement.
Lesbian separatism
Lesbian separatism
Feminist separatism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's separation from men.Christine Skelton, Becky Francis, ''Feminism and the Schooling Scandal'', Taylor & Francis, 2009 ,p. 104 Because much of ...
is a form of separatist feminism specific to lesbians. Separatism has been considered by lesbians as both a temporary strategy, and as a lifelong practice but mostly the latter.
Lesbian separatism became popular in the 1970s as some lesbians doubted whether mainstream society or even the LGBT movement had anything to offer them.
Political lesbianism
Political lesbianism is a phenomenon within lesbian feminism
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logica ...
and radical feminism
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a Political radicalism, radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are al ...
, primarily second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains.
Wh ...
. Political lesbianism embraces the theory that sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
is a choice, and advocates lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
ism as a positive alternative to heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to ...
for women.
Lesbian women who have identified themselves as "political lesbians" include Ti-Grace Atkinson
Grace Atkinson (born November 9, 1938), better known as Ti-Grace Atkinson, is an American radical feminist activist, writer and philosopher.
Life and career
Atkinson was born into a prominent Louisiana family. Named after her grandmother, Gra ...
, Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel (born 20 July 1962) is an English radical feminist writer. She is also co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women, which has aimed to help women who have been prosecuted for assaulting or killing violent male partners.
A ...
, Charlotte Bunch
Charlotte Bunch (born October 13, 1944) is an American feminist author and organizer in women's rights and human rights movements. Bunch is currently the founding director and senior scholar at the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers ...
, Yvonne Rainer
Yvonne Rainer (born November 24, 1934) is an American dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is regarded as challenging and experimental. , Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys (born 13 May 1948) is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.
Jeffreys' argument that the "se ...
. Jeffreys helped develop the concept by co-writing with other members of the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group
The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group was a feminist organisation active in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s. While there were a number of contemporary revolutionary feminist organisations in the UK, the Leeds group was 'internation ...
a pamphlet titled ''Love Your Enemy?: The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism'' which argued that women should abandon heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to ...
and choose to become lesbians as a feminist act. The pamphlet stated, "We do think... that all feminists can and should be lesbians. Our definition of a political lesbian is a woman-identified woman who does not fuck men. It does not mean compulsory sexual activity with women." Thus, some political lesbians choose to be celibate or identify as asexual.
Biphobia and homophobia in feminism
Common lesbian-feminist critiques leveled at bisexuality were that bisexuality was anti-feminist, that bisexuality was a form of false consciousness
In Marxist theory, false consciousness is a term describing the ways in which material, ideological, and institutional processes are said to mislead members of the proletariat and other class actors within capitalist societies, concealing the ex ...
, and that bisexual women who pursue relationships with men were "deluded and desperate." However, tensions between bisexual feminists and lesbian feminists have eased since the 1990s, as bisexual women have become more accepted within the feminist community. Nevertheless, some lesbian feminists such as Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel (born 20 July 1962) is an English radical feminist writer. She is also co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women, which has aimed to help women who have been prosecuted for assaulting or killing violent male partners.
A ...
are still critical of bisexuality. Bindel has described female bisexuality as a "fashionable trend" being promoted due to "sexual hedonism" and broached the question of whether bisexuality even exists. She has also made tongue-in-cheek
The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner.
History
The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott ...
comparisons of bisexuals to cat fanciers
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members o ...
and devil worshippers.
Lesbian feminists initially faced discrimination in the National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
. Some heterosexual feminists such as Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
downplayed lesbian issues as not being central to feminist activism. In 1969 Friedan referred to growing lesbian visibility as a "lavender menace" and fired openly lesbian newsletter editor Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown (born November 28, 1944) is an American feminist writer, best known for her coming-of-age autobiographical novel, ''Rubyfruit Jungle''. Brown was active in a number of civil rights campaigns and criticized the marginalization of le ...
, and in 1970 she engineered the expulsion of lesbians, including Ivy Bottini
Ivy Bottini (August 15, 1926 – February 25, 2021) was an American activist for women's and LGBT rights, and a visual artist.
Personal life and career
Bottini was born in New York in August 1926. From 1944 until 1947, she attended Pratt Institu ...
, from NOW's New York chapter. In reaction, at the 1970 Congress to Unite Women, on the first evening when all four hundred feminists were assembled in the auditorium, twenty women wearing T-shirts that read "Lavender Menace" came to the front of the room and faced the audience. One of the women then read their group's paper "The Woman-Identified Woman
"The Woman-Identified Woman" was a ten-paragraph manifesto, written by the Radicalesbians in 1970. It was first distributed during the Lavender Menace protest at the Second Congress to Unite Women, on May 1, 1970, in New York City. It is now con ...
", which was the first major lesbian feminist statement. The group, who later named themselves "Radicalesbians", were among the first to challenge the heterosexism of heterosexual feminists and to describe lesbian experience in positive terms. In 1971 NOW passed a resolution declaring "that a woman's right to her own person includes the right to define and express her own sexuality and to choose her own lifestyle," as well as a conference resolution stating that forcing lesbian mothers to stay in marriages or to live a secret existence in an effort to keep their children was unjust. That year NOW also committed to offering legal and moral support in a test case involving child custody rights of lesbian mothers. In 1973 the NOW Task Force on Sexuality and Lesbianism was established. In November 1977 the National Women's Conference
The National Women's Conference of 1977 was a four-day event during November 18–21, 1977, as organized by the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. The conference drew around, 2,000 delegates along with 15,000-20,0 ...
issued the National Plan of Action, which stated in part, "Congress, State, and local legislatures should enact legislation to eliminate discrimination on the basis of sexual and affectional preference in areas including, but not limited to, employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, public facilities, government funding, and the military. State legislatures should reform their penal codes or repeal State laws that restrict private sexual behavior between consenting adults. State legislatures should enact legislation that would prohibit consideration of sexual or affectional orientation as a factor in any judicial determination of child custody or visitation rights. Rather, child custody cases should be evaluated solely on the merits of which party is the better parent, without regard to that person's sexual and affectional orientation."
Friedan eventually admitted that "the whole idea of homosexuality made me profoundly uneasy" and acknowledged that she had been very square and was uncomfortable about lesbianism. "The women's movement was not about sex, but about equal opportunity in jobs and all the rest of it. Yes, I suppose you have to say that freedom of sexual choice is part of that, but it shouldn't be the main issue ...."[Friedan, Betty. ''Life So Far'', op. cit. Page 223.] She ignored lesbians in the National Organization for Women initially and objected to what she saw as demands for equal time. "'Homosexuality ... is not, in my opinion, what the women's movement is all about.'"[Friedan, Betty. ''Life So Far'', op. cit. Page 222.] While opposing all repression, she wrote, she refused to wear a purple armband or self-identify as a lesbian (although heterosexual
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to ...
) as an act of political solidarity, considering it not part of the mainstream issues of abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
and child care
Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...
.[Friedan, Betty. ''Life So Far'', op. cit. Pp. 248–249.] In 1977, at the National Women's Conference, she seconded the lesbian rights resolution "which everyone thought I would oppose" in order to "preempt any debate" and move on to other issues she believed were more important and less divisive in the effort to add the Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...
(ERA
An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth.
Comp ...
) to the U.S. Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
.[Friedan, Betty. ''Life So Far'', op. cit. Page 295.]
The American radical feminist group Redstockings
Redstockings, also known as Redstockings of the Women's Liberation Movement, is a radical feminist nonprofit that was founded in January 1969 in New York City, whose goal is "To Defend and Advance the Women's Liberation Agenda". The group's name ...
were strongly opposed to lesbian separatism
Feminist separatism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's separation from men.Christine Skelton, Becky Francis, ''Feminism and the Schooling Scandal'', Taylor & Francis, 2009 ,p. 104 Because much of ...
, seeing interpersonal relationships with men as an important arena of feminist struggle, and hence seeing separatism as escapist. Like many radical feminists of the time, Redstockings saw lesbianism primarily as a political identity rather than a fundamental part of personal identity, and therefore analyzed it primarily in political terms. Redstockings were also opposed to male homosexuality
Human male sexuality encompasses a wide variety of feelings and behaviors. Men's feelings of attraction may be caused by various physical and social traits of their potential partner. Men's sexual behavior can be affected by many factors, incl ...
, which they saw as a deeply misogynistic
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
rejection of women. Redstockings' line on gay men and lesbians is often criticized as homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
.
Feminism and queer theory
Queer theory' is a field of post-structuralist
Post-structuralism is a term for philosophical and literary forms of theory that both build upon and reject ideas established by structuralism, the intellectual project that preceded it. Though post-structuralists all present different critiques ...
critical theory
A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...
that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of queer studies
Queer studies, sexual diversity studies, or LGBT studies is the education of topics relating to sexual orientation and gender identity usually focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender dysphoria, asexual, queer, questioning, inte ...
and women's studies
Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...
. Queer theory has been heavily influenced by the work of feminists such as Gloria Anzaldúa
Gloria may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music
* Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise
* Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise
** Gloria (Handel)
** Gloria (Jenkin ...
, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (; May 2, 1950 – April 12, 2009) was an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory ( queer studies), and critical theory. Sedgwick published several books considered groundbreaking in the fiel ...
, and Judith Butler
Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...
. Queer theory builds both upon feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
challenges to the idea that gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
is part of the essential self and upon gay/lesbian studies' close examination of the socially constructed
Social constructionism is a theory in sociology, social ontology, and communication theory which proposes that certain ideas about physical reality arise from collaborative consensus, instead of pure observation of said reality. The theory ...
nature of sexual acts
The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...
and identities. The theory is heavily based on the idea of de-naturalization of identities, which means to reject the very notion of identity, whether this be man and woman or straight and gay. It argues that these identities are constructed throughout life through gendered socialization, this leads to Butler's idea that what makes a man or a woman is malleable and changes throughout time, we are merely performing as a man or woman to conform to today's gender norms.
Feminist application of queer theory
Queer theory has been greatly influenced by feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist ...
and women's studies. Many works have been written on the intersection
In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their i ...
of feminism and queer theory and how both feminist perspectives can enrich LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
Q theory and studies
Study or studies may refer to:
General
* Education
**Higher education
* Clinical trial
* Experiment
* Observational study
* Research
* Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning
Other
* Study (art), a drawing or series of drawin ...
and how queer perspectives can enrich feminism. Books such as ''Feminism is Queer: The Intimate Connection Between Queer and Feminist Theory'' detail the intersections between queer and feminist theory and argue that feminism itself could be construed as a "queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
" movement.
Feminist criticism of queer theory
Many feminists have critiqued queer theory as either a diversion from feminism issues or as a male-dominated backlash to feminism. Lesbian feminists and radical feminists have been the most prominent critics of queer theory and queer politics. Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys (born 13 May 1948) is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.
Jeffreys' argument that the "se ...
' ''Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective'' harshly criticizes queer theory as the product of "a powerful gay male culture" which "celebrated masculine privilege" and "enshrined a cult of masculinity." She repudiates queer theory as anti-lesbian, anti-feminist, and anti-women. Many feminists can be critical of the Queer Theory for many reasons, mainly deriving from the fact that the Queer Theory is critical of feminism. The theory argues that through the de-naturalization of some identities feminists have naturalized others, this mainly being the idea of natural male domination. This is argued through the idea of sex and gender, while many feminists argue that sex and gender are different, with gender being socially constructed, Butler argues that sex is also part of the social construct and that separating the two gives a natural base for the patriarchy. This idea gets criticized by many theorists for being anti-feminist and for going against second-wave feminism. We can also see some criticism of the Queer Theory by Nussbaum who criticizes Butler's theory for not talking about biological differences or for her teaching that there is no hope of changing the system, so all you can do is mock it.
Feminist sexology
Feminist sexology is an offshoot of traditional studies of sexology
Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism.
Sexologists app ...
that focuses on the intersectionality
Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adva ...
of sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...
and gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
in relation to the sexual lives of women
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
. Feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
sexology shares many principles with the overarching field of sexology; in particular, it does not try to prescribe a certain path or "normality" for women's sexuality, but only observe and note the different and varied ways in which women express their sexuality. It is a young field, but one that is growing rapidly. Notable feminist sexologists include Anne Fausto-Sterling
Anne Fausto-Sterling ( Sterling; born July 30, 1944) is an American sexologist who has written extensively on the biology of gender, sexual identity, gender identity, gender roles, and intersexuality. She is the Nancy Duke Lewis Professor Emer ...
and Gayle Rubin
Gayle S. Rubin (born January 1, 1949 in South Carolina) is an American cultural anthropologist best known as an activist and theorist of sex and gender politics. She has written on a range of subjects including feminism, sadomasochism, prostitut ...
.
A notable radical feminist work on women's sexuality is Anne Koedt's '' The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm'', which advances the claim that vaginal orgasm is a patriarchal myth.
Feminism and sexual violence
Rape culture is a culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
in which rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
and sexual violence
Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, act to traffic a person, or act directed against a person's sexuality, regardless of the relationship to the victim.World Health Organization., World re ...
are common and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...
normalize, excuse, tolerate, or even condone sexual violence. Examples of behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming
Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially at fault for the harm that befell them. There is historical and current prejudice against the victims of domestic violence and sex crimes, such as ...
, slut-shaming
Slut-shaming is the practice of criticizing people, especially women and girls, who are perceived to violate expectations of behavior and appearance regarding issues related to sexuality. The term is used to reclaim the word ''slut'' and empower ...
, sexual objectification
Sexual objectification is the act of treating a person solely as an object of sexual desire. Objectification more broadly means treating a person as a commodity or an object without regard to their personality or dignity. Objectification is most ...
, and trivializing rape. Rape culture has been used to model behaviour within social groups, including prison systems where prison rape
Prison rape or jail rape refers to sexual assault of people while they are incarcerated. The phrase is commonly used to describe rape of inmates by other inmates, or to describe rape of inmates by staff.
China
In February 2021, BBC News rep ...
is common and conflict areas where war rape
Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during armed conflict, war, or military occupation often as spoils of war, but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomenon has broader so ...
is used as psychological warfare. Entire countries have also been alleged to be rape cultures.[Sommers, Dr. Christina Hoff]
Researching the "Rape Culture" of America
Retrieved 3 October 2012.
Although the concept of rape culture is a generally accepted theory in feminist academia, disagreement still exists over what defines a rape culture and to what degree a given society meets the criteria to be considered a rape culture.
Rape culture has been observed to correlate with other social factors and behaviours. Research identifies correlation between rape myth
Rape myths are prejudicial, stereotyped, and false beliefs about sexual assaults, rapists, and rape victims. They often serve to excuse sexual aggression, create hostility toward victims, and bias criminal prosecution.
Extensive research has bee ...
s, victim blaming
Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially at fault for the harm that befell them. There is historical and current prejudice against the victims of domestic violence and sex crimes, such as ...
and trivialisation of rape with increased incidence of racism, homophobia, ageism, classism, religious intolerance and other forms of discrimination.
Feminism and sexual harassment
Feminists have been crucial to the development of the notion of sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
and the codification of laws against sexual harassment. Catharine MacKinnon
Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, a ...
was among the first to write on the topic of sexual harassment. MacKinnon's book ''Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination'' is the eighth most-cited American legal book published since 1978, according to a study published by Fred Shapiro in January 2000.
Some liberal feminists and individualist feminists
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...
have criticized the notion of sexual harassment. Camille Paglia
Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern cultur ...
says that young girls can end up acting in such ways as to make sexual harassment easier, such that for example, by acting "nice" they can become a target. Paglia commented in an interview with ''Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'', "Realize the degree to which your niceness may invoke people to say lewd and pornographic things to you—sometimes to violate your niceness. The more you blush, the more people want to do it." Jane Gallop
Jane Anne Gallop (born May 4, 1952) is an American professor who since 1992 has served as Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she has taught since 1990.
Education
Gall ...
believes that sexual harassment laws have been abused by what she calls " victim feminists", as opposed to " power feminists" as she calls herself.
Feminism and sexual objectification
The concept of sexual objectification and, in particular, the objectification of women
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
, is an important idea in feminist theory and psychological theories derived from feminism.[Barry, Kathleen, ''Female Sexual Slavery'' (NYU Press, 1994), , p.247][Goldenberg, Jamie L., and Tomi-Ann Roberts, 'The Beast within the Beauty: An Existential Perspective on the Objectification and Condemnation of Women' in Jeff Greenberg, Sander Leon Koole, Thomas A. Pyszczynski and Tom Pyszczynski (eds) ''Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology'' (Guilford Press, 2004), ] Many feminists
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male poi ...
regard sexual objectification as objectionable and as playing an important role in gender inequality
Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which men and women are not treated equally. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology, or cultural norms prevalent in the society. Some of these distinctions are empi ...
. Some social commentators, however, argue that some modern women objectify themselves as an expression of their empowerment
Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...
over men, while others argue that increased sexual freedom for women, gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
, and bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
men has led to an increase of the objectification of men.
The male gaze
The "male gaze" is feminist theory that was first developed by Laura Mulvey
Laura Mulvey (born 15 August 1941) is a British feminist film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London. She previously taught at Bulmers ...
in 1975. The male gaze occurs when the audience, or viewer, is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. Mulvey stressed that the dominant male gaze in mainstream Hollywood films
The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Ame ...
reflects and satisfies the male unconscious: most filmmakers are male, thus the voyeuristic gaze of the camera is male; male characters in the film's narratives make women the objects of their gaze; and inevitably, the spectator's gaze reflects the voyeuristic male gazes of the camera and the male actors. When feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
characterizes the "male gaze" certain themes appear such as, voyeurism
Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature.
The term comes from the French ''voir'' which means "to see". A ...
, objectification
In social philosophy, objectification is the act of treating a person, as an object or a thing. It is part of dehumanization, the act of disavowing the humanity of others. Sexual objectification, the act of treating a person as a mere object of sex ...
, fetishism
A fetish (derived from the French , which comes from the Portuguese , and this in turn from Latin , 'artificial' and , 'to make') is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a human-made object that has power over oth ...
, scopophilia
In psychology and psychiatry, scopophilia or scoptophilia ( grc, σκοπέω , "look to", "to examine" + , "the tendency towards") is an aesthetic pleasure drawn from looking at an object or a person. In human sexuality, the term scoptophilia des ...
, and women as the object of male pleasure. Mary Anne Doane gives an example of how voyeurism can be seen in the male gaze. "The early silent cinema, through its insistent inscription of scenarios of voyeurism, conceives of its spectator's viewing pleasure in terms of the peeping tom, behind the screen, reduplicating the spectator's position in relation to the woman on the screen."
See also
*Feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
*Feminist pornography
Feminist pornography is a genre of film developed by or for those within the sex-positive feminist movement. It was created for the purpose of promoting gender equality by portraying more bodily movements and sexual fantasies of women and member ...
* Feminist sexology
*Feminist Sex Wars
The feminist sex wars, also known as the lesbian sex wars, or simply the sex wars or porn wars, are terms used to refer to collective debates amongst feminists regarding a number of issues broadly relating to sexuality and sexual activity. Diff ...
*Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist ...
*Feminist views on BDSM
Feminist views on BDSM vary widely from acceptance to rejection. BDSM refers to bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and Sado-Masochism. In order to evaluate its perception, two polarizing frameworks are compared. Some feminists, such ...
*Feminist views on pornography
Feminist views on pornography range from total condemnation of the medium as an inherent form of violence against women to an embracing of some forms as a medium of feminist expression. This debate reflects larger concerns surrounding feminist vi ...
*Feminist views on prostitution
There exists a diversity of feminist views on prostitution. Many of these positions can be loosely arranged into an overarching standpoint that is generally either critical or supportive of prostitution and sex work. The discourse surrounding pr ...
* Feminist Perspectives on Sex Markets
* Gender roles in non-heterosexual communities § Feminism
*Labia pride
Labia pride (also termed labia liberation, vulvaversity and similar) is the promotion of a raised awareness of the appearance of female genitalia and the breaking of taboos surrounding the vulva, as carried out by feminist movements and advocacy ...
*LGBT ideology
Anti-LGBT rhetoric comprises themes, catchphrases, and slogans that have been used against homosexuality or other non-heterosexual sexual orientations in order to demean lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. They range from t ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Feminist Perspectives on Objectification
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...
Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...
Feminist Perspectives on Sex Markets
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...
Feminism and sexuality
Sexual ethics
Point of view