Sex-positivity

Sex-positivity refers to the belief that open-minded acceptance of sex can be a vehicle for positive social and political reform, and to a worldview centered around that belief.

Basic beliefs
The beliefs of "sex-positives" can vary widely, but most think that society's view of sex is too restrictive and that changing this is an important social issue.

It's the antithesis of the "there's only one way to have sex" idea put forward by magazines.

Sex-positive beliefs are tolerant of all sexual orientations and encourage sexual diversity and "experimentation" between consenting adults.

Many sex-positives see pornography and prostitution as potentially liberating — when meeting strict criteria of equality and safety for everyone involved — and only consider cases where these criteria aren't met (such as those involving exploitation, abuse or lack of consent) as categorically wrong and deplorable.

In general, sex-positivity promotes how to go about having a good experience, rather than deriding certain deliciously naughty adult activities as morally "good" and "bad", placing the latter off-limits (and disastrously repressing one's own urges).

History
Sex-positivity in its modern form began with the 1960's counterculture, when hippies started challenging the conservative sexual norms that had been around for centuries.

Abortion, interracial marriage, and homosexuality all began to gain more widespread acceptance as people became more open-minded about the positive potential for love and sex to help heal the divides in society.

Especially in the view of the conservative movement, this all paved the way for an explosive rise in premarital sex and murder abortion, making the sex-positive movement an enemy of Phyllis Schlafly in the so-called

Prudes vs liberation
During the early 1980's women were largely split on sex-positivity, with most happily embracing it as a form of liberation and appreciation of the human form, while some fearfully rejected it as an expression of objectification.

summarizes the conflict over sex within feminism:

The split ultimately led to the decline of the sex-negative second-wave feminists, who generally expressed a loathing of natural human sexuality almost rivaling that of medieval monks.

Role in feminism
Since the 1980s, many feminists embraced sex-positivity, arguing that equal sexual rights and the rejection of gender-specific sexual stigma would be the next step towards a less inequal society.

In doing so, they scared off many older and sex-negative radical feminists, who felt that even home-made pornography between loving partners, or consentual prostitution as a way to provide sexual rights to the disabled, inherently objectified and dehumanized all women.

The debate spiraled into what became known as the "feminist sex wars". From the 1990s on, sex-positivity was much more accepted among feminists, showing that they had won the "war".

Today — while ultimately victorious — sex-positivity has lost some of its initial steam, instead living on through books (such as The Ethical Slut) and through the continued efforts against both conservative sexual repression and the blatant double standard of shaming sexually active women (all the while labeling sexually active men "studs").

Sex-positivity still comes under fire from "feminist" authors such as Ariel Levy and Pamela Paul, who see the movement as "selling out to the sexual desires of men".

Others still endorse sex-positivity, but believe that it is just one component to the overall struggle for abortion, LGBT rights, and equality in the workplace.

Examples of sex-positive feminists
Women who have advocated include: • 3