Sex-positive Feminism - Critiques of Sex-positive Feminism

Critiques of Sex-positive Feminism

Works that critique sex-positive feminism include those of Catharine MacKinnon (1987), Germaine Greer (1999), Pamela Paul (2005), and the essays in Dorchen Leidholdt (1990), among others. Their main arguments are that certain sexual practices (such as prostitution and pornography) are exploitative toward women and have historically benefited men rather than women, and that thus, the indiscriminate promotion of all kinds of sexual practices merely contributes to female oppression.

Ariel Levy in her 2005 book Female Chauvinist Pigs also critiques sex-positive feminism. While not being opposed to sex-positive feminism per se, nor wishing to specifically proscribe certain forms of sexual behavior, she sees a popularized form of sex-positivity as constituting a kind of "raunch culture" in which women internalize objectifying male views of themselves and other women. Levy believes it is a mistake to see this as empowering and further holds that women should develop their own forms of sexual expression. The response by sex-positive feminists to Levy's book have been mixed; Susie Bright viewed the book quite favorably, stating that much of what can be seen as "raunch culture" represents a bastardization of the work of earlier sex-positive feminists such as herself. Others, such as Rachel Kramer Bussel, see Levy as largely ignoring much of the female-empowered sexual expression of the last 20 years, or misinterpreting it as internalization of male fantasy. Kara Jesella argued that sex-positivity may not necessarily be empowering, but it may also not be disempowering.

Critics of "fun feminism" such as Maureen Dowd wrote of 'bimbo feminism, giving intellectual pretensions to a world where the highest ideal is to acknowledge your inner slut'.