The feminist movement in the West has undergone multiple waves, now continuously heading towards an indefinite trajectory. Ever since the introduction of intersectionality, the feminist movement has converged with other progressive social movements along with the LGBTQ+ community and plus-size community, etc. Moreover, the digital age and critique of terminal capitalism seemed to add more layers to the real-life practice of feminism. However, the discourse of liberation remains predominantly on the struggle of white middle-class women still in the present day. To navigate the growing mystification and intricacies of the feminist movement in the 21st century, Amia Srinivasan’s essay collection, The Right to Sex, seeks to provide an alternative route for people to think about these issues more critically.
In The Right to Sex, Srinivasan covers topics such as the #MeToo movement, debates over pornography, incel culture and so many more. She incorporates traditional academic theories into her twitter-thread-like writing, which makes the reading experience a lot more engaging and beginner-friendly—-to people unfamiliar with the jargon in academia. In her first essay ‘The Conspiracy Against Men’, Srinivasan demystified the dreadful yet haunting experience for women making accusations about men’s sexual misconduct throughout history. By adopting notable examples such as the infamous murder of Emment Till and the controversies of Brett Kavaghngh, Srinivasan reminds her audience that sexual relationships are almost always deeply intertwined with other social constructs such as race and class. She asserts that the legal system has no interest in protecting the interests of historically marginalized groups, regardless of the victim’s gender, which sometimes can be a precarious conversation since men make up an overwhelming amount of documented sexual assault cases. Interestingly, when adding race into the discussion, the table seemed to be turned(for instance the false accusation of Emmett Till). However, she stresses the importance of “Believe in Women”. While the examination of other social factors always plays a role, it is crucial to acknowledge that women have rarely been trusted by the law. Thus, the address of sexual harassment-related cases has to be taken care of carefully and assessed from multiple angles.
In ‘Talking to My Students About Porn’, Srinivasan opens up with the debate of porn-positive vs porn-negative feminism. She provides and analyzes the genealogy of feminists’ perspective on pornography, which usually result in—people believing porn does nothing but perpetuate the objectification of women in patriarchy and porn opens a door for sexual pleasure, even creativity for women. She highlights the current variability of pornography and stresses the importance of women-made porn. To Srinivasan, sexuality and desire itself contain no connotation, it is largely depended on how people shape them, which can be old-fashionedly stigmatized, or, an avenue for the younger generation to celebrate their liberation and acquire agency from practicing it.
In the next essay ‘The Right to Sex’, Srinivasan tries to carefully mediate the relationship between desirability and social construct. She begins the article with the example of Elliot Rodger, who was, probably the most well-known INCEL, in the world. To Rodger himself, his identity as a biracial cis-heterosexual man and his depressing upbringing contributed to his psychopathic carnage of 6 innocent girls in 2014. Srinivasan debunks the logic behind Rodger’s behavior and concludes that “No one is obligated to have sex with anyone”. On the other hand, sexuality and desire should also not be regulated. As Srinivasan defends the righteousness of our natural desire, she notes the core of our struggle with sexuality is the result of the indoctrination of “desirability”, or in her words, the theory of “fuckability”. She argues that the concept of fuckability is clearly a product of prejudice and bigotry, based on people’s different identities. Our society constantly unnecessarily, even mistakenly entangles sexual desirability with identity, such as race/occupation/appearance, etc. Social hierarchy led to our failure of us to view each other as just human beings, since a lot of times, such hierarchies categorize certain people as subhuman-like creatures, which means they are not as sexually desired as other groups. Thus, any sexual preference is hugely impacted by social constructs around us and is therefore political. Srinivasan calls for a divergence from overly emphasizing people’s identity in the sexual/romantic arena, whereas “we will never be freed”.
My favorite piece is “On Not Sleeping with Your Students”. This newly emerged yet taboo topic concerns many fields that it is almost impossible to cover every single one of them all at once. Srinivasan does a great job in employing Freud, Plato, and bell hooks in the construction of her argument, that is do not do it under any circumstances. She uses a handful of examples to illustrate the precarious and nuanced power structure between professors and students, beyond the traditional gender dynamics. Srinivasan points out that intellectual narcissism inherently and profoundly lies within academia, which many male professor mistaken as a sign of romantic expression. This is not what many people have talked about. Teachers hold unimaginable power in the classroom which not many students are fully aware of.
Lastly, Srinivasan concludes her book with a critique of carcerlism and capitalism. She has reiterated in her books many times that the current limitation of the feminist movement results directly in the reliance on law/punishment as the most fundamental institution in our society. She utilizes the example of sex workers’ struggles to explain her argument. Sex workers, if not putting a lot more effort and risks into their jobs than other occupations, have long been stigmatized and constantly living in the harassment of police raids and surveillance. However, according to Srinivasan, incarceration cannot “save” sex workers in any sense. The nature of prostitution lies within the innate inconsistency and double standardness of capitalism, juxtaposed with patriarchy. This can apply to other aspects of our world, and Srinivasan’s ultimate point is that the system of the penitentiary is proven to be a debacle. People should seek other routes in the feminist movement, along with the abolishment of capitalism, to liberate all human beings.
This has been a light-hearted reading for me. A lot of keen perspectives has been provided on many history-old topics, I especially love how she is able to engage with real-life example in her overall argument, which is a crucial component of the feminist movement, or any social movement, that is the real-life application. Numerous examples do not overshadow the seriousness of her work but instead served as strong persuasion since she has incorporated both successfully. This can also be a great introductory read for non-academic-orientated people. In general, I can see how ambitious Amia Srinivasan is in this book. Unfortunately, I believe this is also the drawback of this book, that she can barely call this book “Feminism in the 21st Century” since she has stretched to multiple angles in her analysis, but fail to delve into them in a comprehensive way. I believe that she did not intend to overlook any, but each subject she is dealing with here can easily be a whole book, rather than a 30-pager. I was also kind of disappointed by the piece on pornography. She clearly addresses a very intricate subject and to many degrees has no definite answer. Seeing her swaying in-between disapproving and upholding porn makes me feel like I am reading a textbook on gender studies rather than an essay that is supposed to stem from a strong argument. Here lies the meaning of this book, which despite some ambivalence and unsatingness, opens up a gate to invite more conversation on feminism in the contemporary days, and there undoubtedly will be more books in the future that expand on the groundwork laid by The Right to Sex.