Hi there;
My name is Kelly Long, a second year graduate student in the communication science department, and I am president of the student organization, Sex Positive Students @ NCSU. I was browsing your website this evening and I came across an opinion piece titled “Sexpositivity,” and I decided to see what your columnist had to say. I do not agree with the main argument that she posed, that you cannot work in or support the sex industry and claim to be a feminist fighting to take down the patriarchy—but that is actually not why I am writing you.
I am writing because it perpetuates a sense of slut shaming, and the message further stigmatizes feminine sexuality. I don’t understand why such a sex negative article was entitled “Sexpositivity”. Allow me to quote the following paragraph:
“Women can wear short skirts and makeup, but we should come to terms with why they do these things. These actions are symptoms of the encompassing patriarchal system, not matters that can completely be removed from context on a case-by-case basis.”
As founder and leader of an organization that literally flies the banner of Sex Positivity, I would like to put forth our club mantra, as an alternative to your interpretation of this movement as “an extension of ‘girl power’”: Sex negative means: Don’t do anything you’d be ashamed of. Sex Positive means: Don’t be ashamed of anything you do.
The tone and diction within this piece is condescending at best, condemning at worst. It casually mentions counterpoints without adequate coverage and fails to back up the claims made by the author, that porn in fact perpetuates these stereotypes. Does porn portray a very heteronormative, mono-normative, socio-typical standard of beauty all too often? Oh, absolutely, don’t get me wrong, but it is rarely mentioned that there was a study done back during the Nixon administration that found there was no correlation or link between porn viewership and likelihood to commit sexual assault or rape. Again – are there problems with porn? Yes, all I have mentioned and more, but are they these exact problems you’re speaking of? I’m not so sure, especially since nowadays more and more porn artists are coming forward to express the joy and fulfillment they get out of their occupations.
My main issue, honestly, was with the title of the article. I just think that the title could have better represented the content of the story. If you wanted to do a story about sex positivity, I could have shown you a group of amazing students, bravely working to de-stigmatize the conversations around sexual health, orientation, identity, sexuality and personal exploration, who are all examples of what it means to be feminists, and no, it’s not a “guise” as your author suggests (see paragraph 4). I think I speak on behalf of the club when I scratch my head and go, “what in the heck do you mean by ‘true feminism’?”
This is Kelly Long, signing off in the name of sexual empowerment, sex positivity and feminism.
Kelly Long
Graduate student in communication
