Fellow FTB blogger Great American Satan wrote a post called Sex Positivity: Still Necessary, which defends sex-positivity against asexual discourse. This is a response from an asexual perspective.
First, some general comments:
- I consider myself sex-positive. However, because I participate in the ace community, non-sex-positive, or sex-negative views are within my Overton window. I will offer some defenses of these views, but I ultimately agree with the thesis that sex positivity is still necessary.
- If you read the comments on GAS’s post, there are a few from Elizabeth Leuw. I will say basically the same things she does, but with fewer links. This does not necessarily reflect a consensus view, it’s just that Elizabeth and I are on similar wavelengths. She is one of my cobloggers on The Asexual Agenda.
Sex positivity in principle and practice
The central problem with sex-positivity is its supporters. If you meet several sex-positive people, and all of them advocate for harmful messages (e.g. everyone should enjoy sex; no one should ever be grossed out by sex; more sexual content in the public sphere is necessarily better in the long run), you might reasonably disidentify with sex-positivity. You might like sex-positivity in principle, but dislike in practice, and what it is in practice is important. Or perhaps you think that the roots of its problems lie within its principles.
I will point out that this is not so different from the way many FTB readers disidentify with the skeptical or atheist movements. You could decide that Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and DJ Grothe are so bad that you want no part. Or you could decide that you want to stay involved. [Read more…]