Sex War

Sex Positivity

Women and Gender Advocacy Center

There are two kinds of sex, classical and baroque. Classical sex is romantic, profound, serious, emotional, moral, mysterious, spontaneous, abandoned, focused on a particular person, and stereotypically feminine. Baroque sex is pop, playful, funny, experimental, conscious, deliberate, amoral, anonymous, focused on sensation for sensation's sake, and stereotypically masculine. The classical mentality taken to an extreme is sentimental and finally puritanical; the baroque mentality taken to an extreme is pornographic and finally obscene. Ideally, a sexual relation ought to create a satisfying tension between the two modes (a baroque idea, particularly if the tension is ironic) or else blend them so well that the distinction disappears (a classical aspiration).” - Susie Bright

According to WGAC (Women and Gender Adocacy Center) Sex positivity is the idea that all sex, as long as it is healthy and explicity consensual, is a positive thing. It aims to remove stigma and shame from all sexual choices.

As I read this article all that came to mind was the case of Rehtaeh Parson, and how when kids were asked what consent meant they did not know. They said that because she did not say no or fight them off that it was consensual. But how can you expect a drunk teenage girl who was vomiting to ward off anyone?  I sure hope that sex positivity is taught in schools along with sex education. Maybe then the number of rape and sexual abuse/bullying will decrease.

Then I read "Sex War: The Debate between Radical and Libertarian Feminists" by Ann Ferguson and wonder why there has to be different types feminists when it comes to sex? Isn't the main purpose of having sex a combination of both radical and libertarian views? Like Ferguson said "feminists should be free to choose between basic and risky practices without fear of moral condemnation from other feminists.

 I agree with Kitty Stryker when she said "It’s saddening to see us fighting each other, women who have been called prudes for asserting their sexual choices attacking women who have been called whores for asserting their sexual choices…and vice versa"

http://shannonmajorreviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/susie-bright.html

http://www.feministcurrent.com/2014/04/11/the-divide-isnt-between-sex-negative-and-sex-positive-feminists-its-between-liberals-and-radicals/

Sexuality Study

http://www.attn.com/stories/4061/sexuality-spectrum-study

Sexism even in women's clothing

http://www.attn.com/stories/4144/sexism-womens-pants-without-pockets

Violence against women is everywhere

http://www.attn.com/stories/4146/worst-places-to-live-females-america

Tough Guise 2

Tough Guise 2

Violence, Manhood and American Culture

Dr. Jackson Katz

What Are Little Boys Made of?
Michael Kimmel

Dr Katz is an anti sexist male activist, gender violence prevention educator with men and boys.

In Tough Guise I Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity, it claims that violence in video games, movies and in the media are responsible for violence against women committed by men. That a "real man" are the ones that portray that they are strong, powerful and tough and those who don't are considered ton be a wuss, wimp, weak, sissy. But is the "real man" image just a front that men put?

One comparison made to show how media has changed the way they portray Batman. Muscles went from being 12.2" to 26.8.

 

They also claim that domestic violence is due to men wanting to maintain control over women and women asserting to be treated equally.

In Part 2 of Tough Guise they discuss how there are 2 Americas regarding violence. One that recoils in horror and one that can't get enough as a form of entertainment.

It shows how violence is a men issue when you look at the statistics:

86% of armed robberies, 99% of rapes, 90% of murders, and 86% of domestic violence are committed by men. 

Tough Guise 2 and the article by Michael Kimmel, What Are Little Boys Made of? Dr James Gilligan says that the reason men/boys turn to violence is because of fear of being shamed, disrespected or humiliated. He states that " Violence has more to do with the cultural construction of manhood than it does with the hormonal substrates of biology". Just as we are not born sexist, homophobic or racist, we are not born violent.   One day after class, as I was driving home, I noticed a sticker on a car:

One of the things that bothers me when someone commits a crime automatically they are sent for a psych evaluation. The media blames mental illness, guns, video games, substance abuse, guns, lead in homes, dysfunctional family but they don't blame the men that commit the crime. Why is it that women who are not immune to the causes the media claims to be the problem don't commit half as much as the number of crimes men do? 

Luke Woodham, a 16 year old that committed murder at a Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi because he was ridiculed, beaten and hated by his peers, said "I am not insane, I am angry. I killed because people like me are mistreated everyday." He also believed that "murder is not weak and slow witted, murder is gutsy and daring." I believe it is cowardly.

Jonathan Salisbury and David Jackson believe that "masculine violence is intentional, deliberate and purposeful." That "it comes from an attempt by men and boys to create and sustain a system of masculine power and control that benefits them in every minute of the day. Forget testosterone; it's sexism." Yes, I feel it is a choice men make in order to keep control. I also believe that it is more manly to walk away from a violent situation than to engage in it.

Lesbian making more money than straight women

http://www.attn.com/stories/3557/why-lesbians-earn-more-money-in-the-workplace

This article I added to the blog:

Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence

China ends one child policy

This blog is an update on the one child policy in China that I spoke about in blog It's a Girl.


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151113-datapoints-china-one-child-policy/