The Feminist Sex Wars and Lesbian Sex Wars, or simply the Sex Wars or Porn Wars, were the acrimonious debates within the feminist movement and lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 community in the late 1970s through the 1980s around the issues of feminist strategies regarding sexuality

Human sexuality

Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...

, sexual representation, pornography

Pornography

Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...

, sadomasochism, the role of trans women

Trans woman

A trans woman is a male-to-female transsexual or transgender person and the term trans woman is preferred by some individuals over various medical terms. Other non-medical terms include t-girl, tg-girl and ts-girl...

 in the lesbian community, and other sexual issues. The debate pitted anti-pornography feminism against sex-positive feminism

Sex-positive feminism

Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism is a movement that began in the early 1980s...

, and the feminist movement ended up deeply divided as a result.

The Feminist Sex Wars are sometimes viewed as part of the division that led to the end of the second-wave feminist era.

See also

• Samois
  Samois
  Samois was a lesbian-feminist BDSM organization based in San Francisco that existed from 1978 to 1983. It took its name from the fictional estate of Anne-Marie, a lesbian dominatrix character in Story of O, who pierces and brands O...
  
  
• Feminist views on pornography
  Feminist views on pornography
  Feminist views of pornography range from condemnation of pornography as a form of violence against women, to an embracing of some forms of pornography as a medium of feminist expression. Feminist debate on this issue reflects larger concerns surrounding feminist views on sexuality, and is closely...
  
  
• Feminist views on prostitution
  Feminist views on prostitution
  As with many issues within the feminist movement, there exists a diversity of opinions regarding prostitution. Many of these positions can be loosely arranged into an overarching standpoint that is generally either critical or supportive of prostitution and sex work...
  
  
• Feminist views on BDSM
  Feminist views on BDSM
  Feminist views on BDSM vary widely, from some feminists such as Andrea Dworkin and Susan Griffin who regard BDSM as a form of woman-hating violence, to some sex-positive feminists who see BDSM as a valid form of expression of female sexuality,...
  
  
• Women Against Pornography
  Women Against Pornography
  Women Against Pornography was a radical feminist activist group based out of New York City and an influential force in the anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and the 1980s....
  
  
• Feminists Fighting Pornography
  Feminists Fighting Pornography
  Feminists Fighting Pornography was a political activist organization against pornography. It advocated for U.S. Federal legislation to allow lawsuits against the porn industry by women whose attackers were inspired by pornography. FFP was based in New York, N.Y., was founded in 1983 or 1984, and...
  
  
• Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media
  Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media
  Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media was a radical feminist anti-pornography activist group based in San Francisco and an influential force in the larger feminist anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and 1980s....
  
  

External links

• "Lesbian History: The Sex Wars" by Esther Newton and others, University of Michigan
  University of Michigan
  The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
  
  .
• "Lesbian Sex Wars" by Elise Chenier, glbtq, 2004.
• "The Fireworks at the Sexuality Conference: Whom Should Feminists Fuck? by Marcia Pally, New York Native, May 24, 1982.
• "Charges of Exclusion & McCarthyism at Barnard Conference" by Tacie Dejanikus, off our backs
  Off our backs
  For the MEN song, go to Off Our Backs .off our backs is a radical feminist periodical published in Washington, D.C....
  
  12(6), June 30, 1982.
• "Lesbian Sex Mafia ('L S/M') Speakout" by Fran Moira, off our backs
  Off our backs
  For the MEN song, go to Off Our Backs .off our backs is a radical feminist periodical published in Washington, D.C....
  
  12(6), June 30, 1982.
• "The Context of 'Between Pleasure and Danger': The Barnard Conference on Sexuality" by Elizabeth Wilson, Feminist Review 13:35–52, Spring 1983. (PDF)
• "Sex and Feminism: Who Is Being Silenced?" by Adriene Sere, SaidIt 3(3), 2001.
• "Forum: The Feminist Sexuality Debates" by Ann Ferguson, et al., Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 10(1), 1984.
  • part 1 (PDF)
  • part 2 (PDF)
• "Whip Me, Beat Me and While You're At It Cancel My N.O.W. Membership" by Art Levine, Washington Monthly, June 1, 1987.
• "Erotica and the Feminist Sex Wars: A Personal Herstory" by Jean Roberta, Girlphoria.com, 1999.
• "1982", from Promiscuous Affections: A Life in The Bar, 1969-2000 by Rick Bébout, May, 2003.P