A Reconsideration of Sexual Freedom: How Anarchist Principles of “Freedom to” and “Freedom from” Can Reshape Understandings of Women’s Sexual Liberation

The sex-positive movement has largely worked on an agenda of “positive liberty,” which pertains to women’s ability to broaden their sexual expression and diversity. However, a notable aspect overlooked within this framework is women’s “negative liberty,” which concerns their freedom from oppressive dictates and expectations regarding sexuality. Here, I draw parallels between anarchist theories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, early radical feminist discourse, and the contentious “sex wars” of the 1980s, each of which touch on the pivotal tension between women’s freedom to exercise their desires and their freedom from societal impositions. I argue that this tension is crucial in feminist discourse concerning sexual liberation. To elucidate this point, I examine various contemporary instances wherein women encounter conflicting narratives of sexual progress and challenges to their sexual autonomy, including performance of orgasm, scientific and clinical conceptualization and measurement of sexual satisfaction and dysfunction, instances of rape and coercion, assertions of personal choice regarding body hair, and expressions of same-sex desire, sexual fantasies, and threats to abortion rights. Across these examples, I show how the sex-positive movement is limited in its political agenda and argue for a more nuanced consideration of freedom from constraints in conjunction with freedom to pursue desires. Such an evolution could potentially foster a more unified and potent feminist movement.