General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: With all the anti-pornography talk, can we have a sex positive thread? [View all]Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)I don't like the terms sex negative and sex positive because they tend to be inflammatory and you make a good case for demonstrating why. However, from a literal standpoint they do have considerable basis and are useful as shorthand so long as everyone understands what you're talking about.
First, I will define some terms at least as I will apply them for the purpose of this discussion and many others do as well.
Anti-pornography or anti-pornographers does not mean anyone who condemns pornography as this is a very large group which you may include yourself. Anti-pornographers are those who favor some sort of regulation/censorship/banning/reparation scheme. You may also include yourself in that group, I don't know. Not all social conservatives are anti-pornographers. Some are. Not all feminists are anti-pornographers. Some are.
By feminists I mean prominent feminists, not anyone who calls themselves a feminists or anyone who blogs anonymously as a feminists. I mean people who have authored papers or books on the subject that a significant number of people are reading and under a real name who are either living or deceased.
You can substitute social conservative in the above paragraph for what I mean by social conservative.
By sex I mean coitus, which some feminists refer to as PIV which means heterosexual penetrative sex.
Given those parameters, the number of feminists or social conservatives who are anti-pornographers aren't that many and the vast majority of them are anti-sex by either being against all sex outside of marriage or they are anti-sex because they consider the vast majority of it to be coercive, damaging, and/or violent to women. Given those parameters it is fair to say anti-pornographers for the most part are also anti-sex. If you can name prominent figures that fall outside those parameters feel free to do so.
That's why sex positive feminists call themselves sex positive. You may not like the terminology. I'm not a big fan of it. But it does have some basis whether you like it or not.