Knowra Feminist sex wars Feminist sex wars The feminist sex wars were late-20th-century disputes over pornography, BDSM, prostitution, and sexual freedom. They pitted anti-pornography and anti-violence arguments against defenses of sexual autonomy and pluralism.
Second-wave feminism : A broad feminist movement, especially active from the 1960s through the 1980s, focused on legal equality, sexuality, work, and family. The sex wars developed within this movement’s organizing and debates about women’s liberation.
Andrea Dworkin : An American feminist writer and activist known for her critique of pornography and male violence. Her writing helped shape the anti-pornography position at the center of the disputes.
Feminist anti-censorship movement : A feminist coalition opposing censorship campaigns that target sexually explicit expression. It argued that anti-pornography laws could restrict expression without ending gender inequality.
Pornography : Sexually explicit material, especially material produced for sexual arousal. Disagreement over its harms, meaning, and regulation became the most visible conflict.
Sexual harassment : Unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that creates a hostile environment or affects access to work or education. Legal debates around pornography and discrimination shaped feminist arguments about regulating sexual conduct.
Anti-pornography movement : A political movement seeking to restrict or abolish pornography, often on the grounds that it promotes women’s subordination or sexual violence. Its campaigns made pornography a central site of feminist conflict.
Catharine MacKinnon : An American legal scholar whose work analyzes gender inequality, sexual harassment, and pornography. Her legal arguments treated pornography as a practice of sex discrimination.
Sex-positive feminism : A feminist approach that affirms sexual diversity and autonomy while opposing coercion and inequality. It rejected the idea that sexual explicitness or nonconformity is inherently oppressive.
BDSM : Consensual practices involving bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, or masochism. Feminists disputed whether these practices reproduce domination or can express consensual desire.
Miller v. California : A 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision establishing a test for whether material is legally obscene. Anti-pornography campaigns confronted the censorship framework that this ruling helped define.
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