Dark Daughta Layeth The Truth Down On Erotophobes

If you happen to be a Leftist sex radical, or want to be one, I'd strongly recommend going DIRECTLY (as in RIGHT NOW, Clones) to Dark Daughta's blog to see her latest essay attacking sexual conservatism on the Left...it says what must be said far better than I ever could say it.

http://darkdaughta.blogspot.com/2006/02/unpacking-invisible-knapsack-of-sexual.html

It is a bit long, and you have to kinda endure the background of DD's naked body (not that that's much of an eyesore, either)...but it is well worth it. If she happens to give me permission, I will repost the essay in its entirity here as well.

Tip of the nip....errrrr, the hat, goes to Bitch Lab (who, BTW, deserves some congrats for getting her a decent side gig essaying on Linux technical programming stuff) for referencing that story.

A few highlights from DD to whet your appetite:

Sexual conservatives are not taught to recognize erotophobia, only individual acts of extreme persecution. The majority of them do not acknowlegde invisible systems conferring dominance on people who share their views as oppression.

Through my work to expand my horizons and to develop a comfort level with my own desires, I am often confronted with a general unwillingness on the part of many people to acknowledge that there is such a thing as erotophobia - fear of sexualness - that confers privilege on some even as it puts others at a disadvantageSome may speak about being "open" or about believing in free speech.

They may want to wave flags to show their solidarity with the most conservative of gay agendas - marriage - while completely ignoring the fact that one of the main reasons queer people are oppressed in society is because of the uncontrollable nature of our desires and because of the threat we pose, not as people who get married :), but as openly sexual beings who fuck against the grain.

Folks may point out how many queer people they have on their blogrolls, how many queer friends or acquaintances or colleagues they have, but at the end of the day, they mostly reserve the right to make a great show of their discomfort should anything sexually queered rear its head in their vicinity. They will not support the work of lessening the dominance of those who downplay sexual expression. They will not incorporate or develop a feminist, lefty, radical or otherwise politicized view that questions societally acceptable visions of sex as inherently conservative and/or monogamous if not marriage linked.

They will not acknowledge the fact that oppression can also be based precisely on what happens in the bedroom...or outside it between sexual beings, for that matter.Liberal denial reigns supreme. An unspoken injunction to "cover up", defines even self-defined feminist/liberal/lefty/radical spaces. Casual verbal abuse and stigmatisation of sex workers and sexual wimmin is an acceptable political norm even in spaces (online and real time) that are considered politically feminist/radical/liberal/lefty.

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Trust me on this, friends, it gets better and better. Go and check her out and learn something about yourself...if you dare.

:-)