Article

published: 2009-01-07

I have been asked to write a piece on a novel which is to be released in Holland and has been labeled 'pornographic' literature. For this, I'm researching feminism and what the feminist take is on autobiographical sex-novels written by females. The more I'm reading, the more confused I'm getting. I'm reaching a point where I may just have to conclude: feminism does not know what to make of a woman's sexual exhibitionism. The one feminist will dismiss it as porn, while the other will applaud the liberated aspect of it. I've been wondering why feminists seem so confused and I'm sensing the answer lies here: feminists traditionally advocate non-violence against women. When you study the sexually explicit books by females what you'll read between the lines is violence, essentially against oneself, the author. Yet it is self-imposed by the author and freely so. So what these books hold within them is a conflict of two feministic ideals: the ideal of female autonomy versus the feminist cause against violence.