/u/UnfathomableWonders on Sex Positivity vs Sex Negativity: Why There is No Room for Sex Negativity in Ace or Queer Spaces.

“Sex negativity” was actually feminist criticism of how sex occurs under patriarchy- namely prostitution, pornography, sexualized violence against women in het relationships. It was literally the exact opposite of “puritanical”, and it was vehemently opposed to “Christian marriage”. It sought to imagine what sex for women would look like in a post patriarchal world where no woman was subject to coercion, compulsory heterosexuality, sexually violent media such as pornography, etc. No one ever actually identified as this, the term exists purely as a pejorative. Painting this analysis as “anti queer” is particularly rich considering that its foremost thinkers were (and are) mostly lesbians. Speaking of which:

“Sex positive” feminism historically emerged as a backlash against this analysis because some straight women wanted to reassure men that we didn’t really want to hurt their fee fees by talking critically about our sexual experiences and what they meant for women politically. If you read any Christian marriage blogs, you will actually find many of them using “sex positive” rhetoric to convince women that sublimating their bodily autonomy to their husband’s sexual desires is actually liberating for them, same as leftists do when gaslighting women into performing whatever has been popularized by pornography.

But why bother doing any actual historical research when you can just repeat misinformation over and over again?

So yes, there is most definitely “room” in asexual places for us to have feminist discourse on how sexual practices under patriarchy is/can be harmful for women. Silencing women and telling us what views we’re allowed to hold and express is not feminist.

February 09, 2021 at 11:49PM