Li Yinhe talks about sex

Chapter 56 Feminist Sexual Politics (1)
Women's sexual freedom is an important symbol of women's power; a basic goal of feminist sexual politics is to expand women's sexual freedom rights Cross-cultural research shows that the closer women's power is to men's power in a society, the more women enjoy Sexual freedom; the less empowered women are in a society, the more their sexuality is restricted.Therefore, women's sexual freedom is an important symbol of women's power; a basic goal of feminist sexual politics is to expand women's sexual freedom.Feminist sexual politics has gone through a process from anti-sex to sexual freedom, and one of the transition stages is the stage of lesbianism as a political practice replacing heterosexuality.It can also be said that in feminist sexual politics, there are several political forces, one is anti-sex feminism, the other is sexual liberal feminism, lesbian feminism is a special case, it is between A special political group between the two.

Since the history of the world entered modern times, with the rise of feminist awareness, women's sexual rights have been more and more recognized.But even within feminism, views on sexuality are not unanimous.Although they all start from the perspective of feminism to change the sexual norms of inequality between men and women, there are always two ways for this change, one is a reactionary way; the other is a progressive way.The reactionary way is to change the unequal sexual situation between men and women by regulating male desires and promoting the purity of men; the progressive way is to solve the problem of unequal rights between men and women by empowering women.These two ways and two propositions have been in constant debate.Feminist sexual politics has always been divided into reactionary and progressive, anti-sexual and sexual freedom.

As early as the last century, when feminism was just emerging, the backbone of the movement, those middle-class white women, gathered under the banner of a "pure society" and put forward two demands: one was women's autonomy and suffrage, and the other It's asking men to control their sexuality and be as pure as women.The slogan they put forward at that time was: "Women vote, men are chaste." At the end of the 19th century, British feminist Hopkins was active in the activities of the White Crusade. To protect them from evil; second, to avoid vulgar language and jesting as much as possible; third, to uphold the equality of sexes in upholding the laws of chastity; fourth, to spread the above principles among their fellows, and to help younger brothers; fifth, , Do everything possible to achieve the requirement of "keeping oneself pure".

In the so-called pure society movement in the second half of the 19th century, women's groups and religious figures united against prostitution and social immorality, especially against the double standards of men and women who only required women to be chaste but tolerated men to go to prostitutes to satisfy their lust .The anti-prostitution movement's banner was "social hygiene." One consequence of the movement was that by the time of World War I, prostitution became illegal in some parts of the United States.But the consequence of this decriminalization has been the decentralization of prostitution, going underground and merging with organized crime. In the 19th century, social purity feminists prevented women from prostitution in the name of protecting women, accused women of sexual openness and masturbation as sins, and aimed at encouraging women to accept social roles defined by traditional heterosexual marriages.This is the historical origin of feminist opposition to prostitution, obscenity and homosexuality.From a standpoint against the evils of men, this outlaw movement sows the seeds of opposition to all sexual deviance.

In contemporary Western society, the views of feminist anti-sexists have evolved from demanding male chastity to completely opposing all sexual behaviors.The main representatives of anti-feminism are Dworkin and McKinnon in the United States and Jeffreys in the United Kingdom.Their theoretical framework is a conservative sexual concept, emphasizing the threat to women of male-dominant sexual relations.Because they view heterosexual sexuality as the biological basis of male domination, they believe that to oppose male dominance is to be against sexuality.

The first target of anti-feminism is the sexual relationship itself between the sexes.

Dworkin made it clear that heterosexual intercourse itself enslaves, degrades, defiles and oppresses women.She claims that if the goal of humanity is universal peace, then ending sexual intercourse would be a fundamental and entirely logical step. She also publicly admitted: "I just refuse to say that I am not anti-sexual." Dworkin told the Evening Standard in London in November 1992: "The fact is that women don't like sex that much.The rarity of orgasms is proof enough.We think we like sex the way some slaves think they like picking cotton. "

Anti-feminist Jeffreys put forward a clear-cut slogan: "Liberation from all uninvited male contact." In "Against Pleasure," Jeffreys said that heterosexuality is The system that made possible a male-superior society must therefore be abolished. She berates women who succumb to their desire for men, saying their tendencies are a resurgence of patriarchal thinking. Jeffreys separates heterosexuality from its gender basis and places it within another dichotomy, gender power In the structure of distinction. She argues: "Heterosexual desire is a sexualized power difference... which originates in power relations between men and women and can exist even in same-sex relationships. "

McKinnon said of women who think they can have equal sexual relations with men: "My first reaction is, I'm happy for you; the next reaction is, there may be something you don't understand; My final reaction was, wait and see. The reality is that men and women experience sex in situations where the sexes are not equal. After observing many of my friends, I have come to the conclusion that, on average, There is generally only two weeks of equality between men and women."

Anti-feminists believe that heterosexual sexual relations are themselves violence against women by men.Women are an oppressed class, and this oppression is achieved through sexual domination and control.Men's sexual domination over women is achieved through both direct and indirect means.The direct way is through rape and other overt forms of sexual coercion; the indirect way is when women are educated to treat the sexual colonization of their bodies as sexual pleasure.Men's oppression of women also has a "legitimacy" that no other mechanism of oppression has, and that is the use of male sexuality as a force of social control.It manifests itself in the form of rape, sexual murder, sexual harassment on the street, at home and in the workplace, sexual abuse of children (one of whom is a girl), making obscene phone calls, etc.Women are constantly threatened with male sexual violence, constantly reminded of their inferior status, and constantly punished for being women.Sexual violence demonstrates that the desire to dominate, degrade, and humiliate women is nothing more than an extreme form of an inherently normal male sexuality.These normal male sexuality include violence, aggression, penis center, dissociation of sex and love, objectification of women, fetish tendencies, uncontrollable sexual urges, etc.

This is how anti-feminism defines sexuality between the sexes as a practice of male power.Anti-feminist activists have used this view to challenge male dominance over women.This is the tone of their analysis of sexual violence and obscene pornography, as well as their basic analysis of male sexual definitions and sexual structures.

The second target of anti-feminism is the commercialization of sex.In the West, the ways in which women participate in the sex industry can be summarized into five categories: strippers, porn dancers, prostitutes, porn film actresses, and pornographic photo models.Radical feminists object to all of this as the commodification of women, which is politically incorrect and a patriarchal environment that legitimizes men’s unconditional access to women.Socialist feminism also denies these activities, but they raise the issue from another perspective. They believe that this phenomenon is caused by women's poverty and women's economic discrimination. male sexual object.

The third target of antifeminist attacks is sexual liberation and openness to sexuality.They believe that if the conditions of sexual liberation are determined by men, sexual liberation is by no means female liberation.In the late 70s, anti-feminists lashed out at open sex with strangers, those who sought out partners in singles bars and nightclubs.Such sexual activity, as well as sadomasochistic sexual activity, intergenerational sexual activity between adults and boys and girls, and lesbian sexual activity with male and female roles, are all classified as patriarchal relations of domination and submission, and are considered anti-feminist and anti-feminine.They believe that women value intimate sexual relationships and romantic tenderness, and dislike indifferent sexual relationships and "one-night stands" as sexual objects.From this point of view, good sexual activity for a woman is one that makes her feel safe exposing her sexual vulnerability, rather than one that makes her feel threatened by sexual abuse and exploitation .Therefore, for a woman, the only sexual activity that can really satisfy her is monogamous sexual activity with a loving and faithful partner.In this age of AIDS, open sex is seen as dangerous sex, open sex with multiple partners, and multiple partners is seen as unsafe sex.

The fourth target of anti-feminism is lesbian activism.Between 1969 and 1971, the National Organization of Women in the United States attempted to purge lesbians from their organizations.This tendency, which Friedan dubbed the "purple menace," was a retreat toward masculinist sexuality and would be detrimental to the feminist movement.But in the decade that followed, lesbian feminism became a defining force in the women's movement.This marriage of feminist politics and lesbian sexuality is best expressed in Atkinson's famous quote: "Feminism is theory, lesbianism is practice." However, since many lesbian feminists do not see themselves as The generalization of viewing one's sexual orientation as a conscious political choice rather than merely a sexual orientation or a way of life remains a controversial formulation among lesbians and heterofeminists.

The fifth target of anti-feminism is all "perverted" sexual activity.In 1980, the National Organization for Women argued against sadomasochism and intergenerational relationships for the same reasons it had opposed lesbianism a decade earlier: that oppressive patriarchal power relations were inconsistent with feminist principles.In addition to sadomasochism and intergenerational sexual relations, these so-called "abnormal" sexual orientations under attack also include cross-dressing tendencies, lesbian relationships with male and female roles, and so on.Anti-sexists believe that the above-mentioned tendencies are the reappearance of the division of labor in traditional patriarchy, which is oppressive, and the goal of feminism is to liberate from this oppression.In addition, transgender orientation is also criticized, and transgender people are criticized for wanting to change themselves to a "correct" body according to the patriarchal model.

(End of this chapter)