Political is Personal: Scholarly Manifestations of the Feminist Sex Wars

In response to the dominant paradigms that cast women as neurotic because of their sexual organs and hormones, and advocated for male dominance of female sexuality, feminist theorists of the 1970s began to radically challenge the notion that biology rendered men superior both culturally and sexually. Feminist discussions of sex work, s/m1, and women-centered sexualities uncovered a rift between feminists who believed firmly that women could claim sexual pleasure and agency within a patriarchal society, and women who believed that embracing radical sexualities constituted violence against women and submission to patriarchal ideals.