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seabeyond

(110,159 posts)
Wed May 30, 2012, 10:11 AM May 2012

“Sex Positive Feminism” - A Term That Needs Retiring

Imagine a chap, let's call him Ed, who plays football in his local park every weekend. Although Ed loves to play with his friends in the park he chooses not to watch the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A or any other professional football. Ed has three reasons for avoiding televised football: firstly he happens to find watching a good deal less interesting than playing; secondly he objects to the degree to which the game has become the plaything of big business and television and thirdly he finds the rampant machismo and hyper competitiveness of professional sport distasteful. Now based on these factors would anyone seriously consider describing Ed as being 'anti-football'? Even the buffoonish chief architect of football's commercialisation - FIFA's Sepp Blatter - might think twice... Alternatively imagine someone who enjoys food and likes to cook but who happens (for reasons of taste or ethics or an aversion to strip lighting) to avoid fast food chains. Would even the CEO of Subway dream of labelling such a person 'anti-food'? Unless the words 'professional football' and 'fast food' are taken to be identical with 'football' and 'food' such labels, are of course, transparently absurd.

I ask these hypotheticals because idly browsing the excellent feminist blog The F-Word I came across an interview with the Swedish film maker Mia Engberg who made use of the term 'Sex-positive feminism'. Now to the unversed 'sex-positive feminism' sounds like a rather good thing - what right-thinking progressive would want to object to either feminism or sex? However, those who keep up with feminist discourse will know that the term is used almost exclusively by feminist proponents of porn as a way to undermine anti-pornography critics. It's not hard to see why some pro-porn* feminists are so fond of this term (to their credit the more serious among them eschew the label) - after all if sex-positive feminists exist then they must have 'sex-negative' counterparts, and who wants to count themselves amongst their party-pooping number? The term has an obvious chilling effect on critics (and potential critics) of porn, since in a highly sexualised culture the last thing anyone wants to be accused of is prudishness. To be a prude is to be uptight, boring, repressed and oppressive whilst 'sex-positive' connotes liberation, tolerance, healthy self-acceptance and a certain joi de vivre. It's not hard to see why progressives would like to be associated with such a term. A secondary advantage to using the term for porn-advocates is that it helps to conflate the feminist anti-porn critique with a group who genuinely are anti-sex (not to mention anti-feminist), namely politically conservative (often religiously inspired) opponents of porn. Ever since Andrea Dworkin it's been a favoured tactic of the porn industry to portray anti-porn feminists and political conservatives as sisters and brothers in arms. Of course this is a bit like suggesting that Eisenhower Republicans and Troskyists were engaged in the same political project because both groups happened to be opposed to Stalinism (and Stalinists were of course hardly averse to arguing that their ideological competitors were 'objectively pro-imperialist') but, however silly the claim is, it has not been ineffective. Still, as criticism of porn by feminists becomes increasingly respectable once again, I wonder whether the term's potency is declining (certainly to me its use signals little more than that the person using it probably ought not to be taken seriously). Whether the term remains effective or not, though, the porn wars have been marked by much bad feeling and unfair caricaturing (on both sides of the debate) - it's high time inflammatory and meritless terms like 'sex-positive feminism' were retired.

*"pro-porn feminist" is itself a problematic term since there are some feminists who advocate only certain (typically less-misogynist) genres of porn - though even this group tends to downplay the blatant misogyny of the mass of pornographic content.

http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/blog_comments/sex_positive_feminism_a_term_that_needs_retiring

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“Sex Positive Feminism” - A Term That Needs Retiring (Original Post) seabeyond May 2012 OP
This is really good. MadrasT May 2012 #1
i am really trying to find something specific connected to this seabeyond May 2012 #2
Sex obsessed, attention seeking narcissist, porn addict or desperate for male attention... BlueIris May 2012 #3
the term is used to divide and disparage... that alone is a reason to retire it... hlthe2b May 2012 #4
Agreed. And yr right that it's very similar to the 'pro-abortion' label n/t Violet_Crumble Jun 2012 #5
Yep! Little Star Jun 2012 #6

MadrasT

(7,237 posts)
1. This is really good.
Wed May 30, 2012, 01:21 PM
May 2012

This especially hits the mark:

However, those who keep up with feminist discourse will know that the term is used almost exclusively by feminist proponents of porn as a way to undermine anti-pornography critics. It's not hard to see why some pro-porn* feminists are so fond of this term (to their credit the more serious among them eschew the label) - after all if sex-positive feminists exist then they must have 'sex-negative' counterparts, and who wants to count themselves amongst their party-pooping number? The term has an obvious chilling effect on critics (and potential critics) of porn, since in a highly sexualised culture the last thing anyone wants to be accused of is prudishness. To be a prude is to be uptight, boring, repressed and oppressive whilst 'sex-positive' connotes liberation, tolerance, healthy self-acceptance and a certain joi de vivre. It's not hard to see why progressives would like to be associated with such a term.


I have no time for "sex positive" malarky.

Nearly every "sex positive feminist" I have ever met was one (or more) of the following:

  • sex obsessed (and for some reason felt they needed justification for it)
  • an attention seeking narcissist
  • a man who wanted to protect his access to his beloved porn (*while simultaneously claiming to not be a misogynist and claiming to be an advocate for women's rights and/or feminism)
  • a woman who desperately wants to be hip and cool to win the approval of -- you guessed it -- men

  • While I may be somewhat narcissistic, I am not sex obsessed, a porn loving man, or a woman who wants anyone's approval.

    The single thing that has most liberated me as a human being was when I stopped giving a rat's ass what men think about me. (Or women, for that matter.) About the way I look, about the way I act, about my potential fuckability, about my potential partnerability, about my femininity or lack thereof...

    Just. Don't. Care.

    And then... I was free.


    *Added on edit.
     

    seabeyond

    (110,159 posts)
    2. i am really trying to find something specific connected to this
    Wed May 30, 2012, 01:48 PM
    May 2012

    for discussion. not to harp on it, but something i am seeing here on du, pertaining to this behavior regarding number 3. cannot find a good article to lead to discussion, but i feel it is important.

    spending most of the day googling though, i have found some interesting articles. (i am horrible at googling. my boys laugh at me. my husband does it for me, lol)

    i think you did an awesome job laying it out.

    BlueIris

    (29,135 posts)
    3. Sex obsessed, attention seeking narcissist, porn addict or desperate for male attention...
    Thu May 31, 2012, 10:59 AM
    May 2012

    I'd add 'sex worker wanting to validate the allegedly non-exploitive nature of her work.'

    Blech.

    hlthe2b

    (101,730 posts)
    4. the term is used to divide and disparage... that alone is a reason to retire it...
    Thu May 31, 2012, 12:41 PM
    May 2012

    I find it personally offensive and I think it belies the fact that most women, and many feminists have very complex viewpoints on these issues that are not amenable to simplistic categorization. To suggest women who are concerned about sexual exploitation from the porn industry, as one example, are anti-sex strikes me as the same kind of disgusting language framing as has caused society to conclude those who are Pro-Choice are PRO-Abortion. I'm still waiting to meat ANYONE who is pro-abortion, btw. I gather I will wait for a very long time.

    Yes.. offensive term and has no place IMO.

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