London Review of Books article. Who has the right to sex.

[Meeep]

www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n06/amia-srinivasan/does-anyone-have-the-right-to-sex

Thought this was interesting, and you guys would maybe find it interesting too.

Where's the OP gone? Do they have an opinion I wonder.

bluescreen You've reposted the original link that was in the OP.

You've reposted the original link that was in the OP.
I did, but there's comments BTL posted since, including Rebecca Solnit's, so I thought it worth reposting.

[Rebecca Solnitz fangirl here]

Also found this confusing and disappointing. She writes well and has a great reputation so I was keen to read. But OMG all the cis stuff. Really? Impossible to take any of it seriously after that.

Sorry 0phelia - I haven't gone anywhere.

I don't really approve of sex-positive feminism in patriarchy to be honest.

There are lots of men who I take seriously as men (as in, I know they're men, this is not in dispute) who I wouldn't have sex with. The majority of men fall into that category, in fact.

Putting aside the whole question of is A really B, anyone who believes that people are required to have sex with them in order to prove that they take them seriously is either a rapist or will become one the moment they think they can get away with it. Which this article is setting them up to be able to do.

It would be helpful if authors who believe that transwomen are identical to women for sexual purposes could provide some supporting evidence from their personal lives.

E.g. a hypothetical heterosexual female philosopher could write: "I have slept with [insert number] transmen and can attest that manvulvas are indistinguishable from penises."

This would avoid any accusations of hypocrisy.

Wow reading that article made my head hurt.

Need a lie down now!

I found this admission from a TIM about why they transitioned interesting:

"I transitioned for gossip and compliments, lipstick and mascara, for crying at the movies, for being someone’s girlfriend, for letting her pay the check or carry my bags, for the benevolent chauvinism of bank tellers and cable guys, for the telephonic intimacy of long-distance female friendship, for fixing my make-up in the bathroom flanked like Christ by a sinner on each side, for sex toys, for feeling hot, for getting hit on by butches, for that secret knowledge of which dykes to watch out for, for Daisy Dukes, bikini tops, and all the dresses, and, my god, for the breasts."

Definitely not chicks with dicks. Absolutely d00dz with tits.

I can't imagine any man saying: "I wanted to transition so I could get paid less; have good ideas co-opted by male colleagues; end up doing the admin in projects; putting up with put-downs and sexist comments from male colleagues; worrying about walking home alone; deciding if you're safer in a cab with an unknown driver or catching a train at night; constant awareness that you're never young enough, thin enough or pretty enough for social approbation; knowing that having an unpopular opinion online won't lead to you being fluffed by handmaidens, but rape threats from men and if you're really unlucky real sexual assault because you wanted to express your desire."

In lots of ways being a woman seems like running a circus - the outside might be sparkly lights and glitter, but backstage it's sweaty hard work to keep everyone happy. Some men buy a ticket to the performance and want to run away to the circus, but once there, have no interest in shovelling elephant dung or selling fairy floss or carting water to the horses.

That's a brilliant analogy @DancelikeEmmaGoldman

I haven't read the article but I don't need to as you've all comprehensively taken it down. Sounds like a more erudite Julia Serrano

My iPad wants to put two Rs in Serano

I sometimes get the feeling that a certain type of male believes that there’s a secret female sex club that they just can’t get an invitation too.

That behind closed doors women are all having pillow fights and orgies, that we are all hot to trott all the time and are doing it indiscriminately all the time but just stop whenever they come into the room.

Miranda Yardley said these people conflate feeling sexy with feeling like a woman and I think that's about it.

I think you're bang on Teacup. I read one saying that they dressed like a teenager because they missed out on being a teenager and the fun silly clothes you can wear at that age.

They missed out the horror of having old blokes leering at you, periods at school, PE lesson humiliation and toxic relationships which are a staple of most girls' teenage years. Because it's just about short flippy skirts, PJ parties and coquettish giggling.

I spent most of my teenage years pretending I was way more into sex than I was. If anything the opposite was true, I was all pillow fights and daisy dukes in public and all eating multi packs of monster munch and playing skateboard games on the computer in private.