Alix Kates Shulman Sex and Power Sexual Bases of Radical Feminism PDF
Alix Kates Shulman Sex and Power Sexual Bases of Radical Feminism PDF
Alix Kates Shulman Sex and Power Sexual Bases of Radical Feminism PDF
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8. This attitudeis explored in the article,"When Women Rap about Sex," evidently
the transcriptof a meetingedited byShulamithFirestone,in one of the firstpublicationsof
the women's liberationmovement,NotesfromtheFirstYear (New York: New York Radical
Women, 1968).
9. In "The Personal Is Political,"an articleby Carole Hanisch in NotesfromtheSecond
Year: Women'sLiberation,Major Writingsof theRadical Feminists,ed. Shulamith Firestone
(New York: New York Radical Feminists,1970), Hanisch discusses thedifferencesbetween
therapyand CR groups.
II
We must come to realize that we don't need sex, that celibacy ...
could be desirable,in manycases preferableto sex. How repugnant
itis, afterall, to make love to a man who despises you,who fearsyou
and wants to hold you down! Doesn't screwingin an atmosphere
devoid of respect get prettygrim?Why bother? You don't need it.
... This is a call not forcelibacybut foran acceptance of celibacyas
an honorable alternative,one preferableto the degradation of most
male-femalerelationships .... Unless you accept the idea that you
don't need [men], don't need sex from them, it will be utterlyim-
possible foryou to carrythrough,it willbe absolutelynecessaryfor
you to lead a double life, pretending with men to be something
other than what you know you are.. . If we are going to be liber-
III
New YorkCity
25. SydneyAbbottand Barbara Love observe that lesbians "sufferthe oppression of
all women but are not eligible for any of the rewards. . .. Fear of punishmentcreates
tremendousanxiety,even though punishmentmay not occur" ("Is Women's Liberationa
Lesbian Plot?" in Gornickand Moran, pp. 443 and 445.)