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"In support of feminism

I am a feminist. However, I feel that I need to qualify this by saying that I support sex-positive feminism and I oppose radical feminism.

Feminism is one of the most righteous and successful social movements in history. In its century and a half of existence

• it has gotten women the right to vote
• incorporated women into the workforce
• defended the rights of women in the workplace
• gave them access to all professions and political power,
• granted them the right to control their body, their sexuality, and reproduction
• defended them against violence and sexual abuse
• among other things.

That women should enjoy equal rights to men is a no-brainer. It derives from the most basic principles of justice. It is also clear that men stand to benefit from that equality. We all stand to gain from the triumph of feminism.

The fight for equality is not over. Much remains to be done, particularly in the developing world. Still, recognizing past successes gives us hope that complete equality is achievable and that we will get there sooner rather than later.

The dark side of feminism

All that needed to be said because this article is about the dark side of feminism. Nothing of what I will say here should be construed to deny that achieving equality is a worthy and important goal. However, like in any other human enterprise, mistakes are made. People, even with good intentions, hijack good social movements to further nasty goals.

The 70s was an interesting decade, often forgotten in comparison with the enormous energy and the earth-shattering social changes of the 60s. A lot of those changes were deepened, cleaned, and consolidated in the 70s. However, the love and positivity of the 60s turned to anger and negativity in the 70s. That’s what happened to feminism.

Some feminists decided that it was necessary to push back against the sexual liberation of the 60s. At that time, contraceptives had become publicly available, freeing women from the fear of getting pregnant. Now they could have sex for fun, just like men had been doing. These academic feminists cautioned that sexual liberation was an evil in disguise. It hid the fact that women were being exploited by men. This was especially clear in three evil things: pornography, sadomasochism, and prostitution.

Because it initially targeted pornography, this form of feminism was labeled anti-pornography feminism. More recently, people who embrace this ideology have chosen the label of Radical Feminism. Never mind that they have often allied themselves with repressive forms of conservativism and religious intolerance. Although radical feminism does not always overlap with anti-porn feminism, that’s the label that I will use in this article."

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