Week of November 16th

The Feminist Sexuality Debate
Ann Ferguson

Quotes

While reading this article I became lost in attempting to comprehend bit and pieces through out the article. However, I could clearly see some important distinctions. The most vital one is the clarification between the two feminism. I thought it was strange to have two types but it made more sense as the reading went on. The two kinds of feminism are Radical feminism and Libertarian feminists. Radical feminism is identified by the group of people who live in a lesbian community, that  frowns upon male dominated heterosexual sex which includes pornography, prostitution, and adult/child relationships. Libertarian consider themselves to be heterosexual feminists who support any kind of consensual sexuality that brings the participants pleasure which include pornography, role oriented sex, and adult/child sexual relations.

Radical Feminism

"Heterosexual relations generally are characterized by an ideology of sexual objectification (men as slaves owners and women as the slave)"
The statement above states that men are seen as the person in control of what will happen and then women has absouletly no say in the choice to the matter. In this matter things like rape can occur which is not taken well by the public.

I think that using someone as a "slave" is not right, taking advantage of someone is not fair. It is different if you ask politely for their help, if you assume and demand them to do something for you then this is something that should be questioned. A women is not an object, they are as much a person as men. We may look a certain way despite that, we should not be taken advantage because of how we look.

"The attendant ideology of sexual objectifcation is sadomasochism, that is masculinity as sadistic control over women and femininity as submission of the male will."
Essentially, this states when you take advantage of someone in a sexual manner that in some way inflicts pain on that person that pleasures the person inflicting pain. Submission in this manner that one person is taking control of the situation end.

Personally, I think taking control over someone in any way is disrespectful, I found it even more intrusive when it is regarding a sexual manner because that is very invasive to someone's personal space. A sexual encounter for people is important part of life so it is not something they want to be ruined by a uncomfortable experience. It is our own experience we should be able to control how it happens. For example, lets say there is a couple who love each other and want to wait a certain amount of time to go to that level of a relationship, neither of them would want to have that special time in their relationship ruined due to someone physically inflicting pain on either person from that relationship. 

Liberal Feminism

"This begs the question, for any feminist position has to examine the concept of consent itself in order to explore hidden power structures that place women in unequal positions."

This quote essentially stating  idea of consent between a man and women facing possible sexual encounters. It is trying to say that women should always be faced with consent because a sexual encounter should not be forced, if it is forced then a liberalist would believe it is not respectful to the woman.

This group of people want women to feel comfortable, not uncomfortable when asked to partake in a sexual encounter. When you hurt someone in sexual sense that can inflict a significant amount of physical and emotional damage. A close friend of mine was physical affected by men in her life and it hurt her in the way she was scared to meet new men. She was afraid of what could happen due to past experiences.

"To further resolve this dilemma I think we must adopt a transitional feminist sexual morality that distinguishes between basic, risky, and forbidden sexual practices."
Ferguson states we should state a clear and fair practice regarding sexual practices with things that we should do and things we should not do.

This discovery of finding a fair sexual practice of do's and don'ts will take a long time to become a successful use for people. People who are charged as sex offenders may not ever see what they do to women or young children as a negative action. We simply cannot tell people what is wrong or what we see as "wrong." You can bring a horse to water but you cannot force it to drink.

The author wants to find a correct theory regarding feminism in a sexual perspective. However, this is something that will take significant time as these two groups of feminists are so diverse. When a group of people have a set belief it is hard to allow vision of other opinions and thoughts. This is especially difficult because of the topic, sexuality within treatment of women and men.