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The sex-positive movement is a social movement which promotes and embraces sexuality and sexual expression, with an emphasis on safe sex and the importance of consent. Sex-positivity is "an attitude towards human sexuality that regards all consensual sexual activities as fundamentally healthy and pleasurable, encouraging sexual pleasure and experimentation". The sex-positive movement is a social and philosophical movement that advocates these attitudes. The sex-positive movement also advocates sex education and safer sex as part of its campaign".[1] Part of its original use was in an effort to get rid of the frightening connotation that the term 'positive' had during the height of the AIDS epidemic.[2] The movement generally makes no moral distinctions among types of sexual activities, regarding these choices as matters of personal preference.



The sex-positism movement is a social and philosophical movement that promotes and embraces sexuality and sexual expression, with an emphasis on safe and consensual sex. Sex-positivity is ‘an attitude towards human sexuality that regards all consensual sexual activities as fundamentally healthy and pleasurable, encouraging sexual pleasure and experimentation’. The sex-positive movement advocates sex education and safe sex as part of its campaign. The movement generally makes no moral distinctions among types of sexual activities, regarding these choices as matters of personal preference.


Reich, W. (1945). The sexual revolution. New York. Lexicology -well explained. Wilhelm Reich ‘The Sexual Revolution' (1936). promoting adolescent sexuality and the availability of contraceptives, abortion and divorce, a provocative message in Catholic Austria. Leader of sexual liberation.

The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), in which Reich drew the connections between sexual repression, family structure and authoritarianism 

His work received greater attention with the advent of various sexual liberation movements in the 1960s, but some men confused sexual liberation with making women sexually available, giving rise to a new wave of the feminist movement,


Like Reich, some contemporary advocates of sex-positivity define their philosophy in contrast to sex-negativity, which they identify as the dominant view of sex in Western culture and many non-Western cultures. According to these advocates, traditional Christian views of human sexuality define traditional Western values in relation to this subject. Thus, such proponents of sex-positivity claim that under the Western, Christian tradition, sex is seen as a destructive force except when it is redeemed by the saving grace of procreation, and sexual pleasure is seen as sinful. Sexual acts are ranked hierarchically, with marital heterosexuality at the top of the hierarchy and masturbation, homosexuality, and other sexualities that deviate from societal expectations closer to the bottom.[7] Medicine and psychiatry are said to have also contributed to sex-negativity, as they may, from time to time, designate some forms of sexuality that appear on the bottom of this hierarchy as being pathological (see Mental illness).[7] However, Western societies which predate Christian influence, such as ancient Greece, have often endorsed forms of sexuality that strongly conflict with Christian beliefs

-original author discussed Western vs non-western views as the main problem. However, in Western society there are conservatives and liberals. Not enough explanation and lack off clear direction. “from time to time” was unnecessary. "However, Western societies which predate Christian influence, such as ancient Greece, have often endorsed forms of sexuality that strongly conflict with Christian beliefs” unnecessary as well

Overview as consent matters, social norms do not. (https://francoistremblay.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/what-is-sex-negativity/) In opposition, Sex negativity takes on conservative definitions of human sexuality. Sex is seen as a destructive force except under the contract of a marriage. Sexual acts are rank hierarchically, with marital heterosexuality at the top of the hierarchy and masturbation, homosexuality, and other sexualities deviating from societal expectations at the bottom. (7). RUBIN

Medicine and psychiatry are said to have also contributed to sex-negativity, as they may, designate some forms of bottom hierarchical sexuality as being pathological. 


The sex-positive movement does not, in general, make moral or ethical distinctions between heterosexual or homosexual sex, or masturbation, regarding these choices as matters of personal preference. Some sex-positive positions include acceptance of BDSM and polyamory as well as asexuality, transsexuality, transgenderism, and other forms of gender transgression in general. Most elements of the sex-positive movement advocate comprehensive and accurate sex education as part of its campaign.



well explained


Some sex-positive theorists have analyzed sex-positivity in terms of the intersection of race/culture, gender, sexuality, class, nationality, and spirituality. Farajaje-Jones (2000) highlighted the connection between white supremacist ideology and what he termed "erotophobia".[8]

Erotophobia is a model of a continuum polarized line. At one end is negative attitude or fear of sex and on the other end is a positive attitude about sex. A culture or individual can have just one or multiple erotophobic attitudes. Fears can range from homophobia, sex education, discourse, and nudity.  Erotophobias can be clinically, psychologically, or politically driven. 



Carol Queen quotes are well explained


The term free love has been used since at least the 19th century[11] to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. According to this concept, the free unionsof adults are legitimate relations which should be respected by all third parties whether they are emotional or sexual relations. In addition, some free-love writing has argued that both men and women have the right to sexual pleasure. In the Victorian era, this was a radical notion. Later, a new theme developed, linking free love with radical social change, and depicting it as a harbinger of a new anti-authoritarian, anti-repressive pacifist sensibility

-"since at least” grammatical error messy sentence sentence structure 12 link did not work -replaced with same article, different source


Free Love The term free love has been used since the 19th Century to describe a social movement that rejects marriage which is seen as a form of social bondage.

In addition, some free-love writers advocate for both male and female rights to sexual pleasure, free of legal or social restraints. This was a radical notion in the Victorian Era.



While the term free love is often associated with promiscuity in the popular imagination, especially in reference to the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, historically the free-love movement has not advocated multiple sexual partners or short-term sexual relationships[citation needed]. Rather, it has argued that love relations that are freely entered into should not be regulated by law[citation needed]. Thus, free-love practice may include long-term monogamous relationships or even celibacy, but would not include institutional forms of polygamy, such as a king and his wives and concubines.

-inserted citation Smith

-inserted citation Babie


Laws of particular concern to free love movements have included those that prevent an unmarried couple from living together, and those that regulate adultery and divorce, as well as the age of consent, birth control, homosexuality, abortion, and prostitution; although not all free love advocates agree on these issues. The abrogation of individual rights in marriage is also a concern—for example, some jurisdictions do not recognize marital rape or treat it less seriously than non-marital rape.

-inserted citation Kholsa


Free-love movements since the 19th century have also defended the right to publicly discuss sexuality and have battled obscenity laws.[citation needed] One of the forerunners of this movement was Emma Goldman. She advocated passionately for the rights of women, writing: "I demand the independence of woman, her right to support herself; to live for herself; to love whomever she pleases or as many as she pleases. I demand freedom for both sexes, freedom of action, freedom in love and freedom in motherhood".[13]

-inserted citation Kholsa

-cited wrong… fixed Wexler, A. (1984). Emma Goldman: An Intimate Life. NY: Panthenon .

In the 20th century, some free-love proponents extended the critique of marriage to argue that marriage as a social institution encourages emotional possessiveness and psychological enslavement[citation needed].

-inserted citation Jakopovich


In general use, the term "sexual liberation" is used to describe a socio-political movement, witnessed from the 1960s into the 1970s.[19] However, the term has been used at least since the late 1920s[20] and is often attributed as being influenced by Freud's writing on sexual liberation and psychosexual issues.[21]

-confirmed by Freud and Firestone

During the 1960s, shifts in regard to how society viewed sexuality began to take place, heralding a period of de-conditioning in some circles away from old world antecedents, and developing new codes of sexual behaviour, many of which are now integrated into the mainstream.[22]

into the mainstream

The 1960s heralded a new culture of "free love" with millions of young people embracing the hippie ethos and preaching the power of love and the beauty of sex as a natural part of ordinary life. Hippies believed that sex was a natural biological phenomenon which should not be denied or repressed. Changes in attitudes reflected a perception that traditional views on sexuality were both hypocritical and male-chauvinistic.

hypocritical and male-chauvinistic

Sexual liberalisation heralded a new ethos in experimenting with open sex in and outside of marriage,[23] contraception and the pill, public nudity, gay liberation, liberalisation of abortion, interracial marriage, a return to natural childbirth, women's rights and feminism.[24][25]


Celibate hippies were not critical of others who chose the paths of "free love" and "sexual liberalisation".[26] In the late 1970s and 1980s, newly won sexual freedoms were exploited by big business looking to capitalize on a more open society, with the advent of public pornography and hardcore.[27]

-correction: "some forms of hardcore"

Historian David Allyn argues that the sexual revolution was a time of "coming-out": about premarital sex, masturbation, erotic fantasies, pornography use, and sexuality.[19]

-confirmed by Allyn book “Make Love, Not War

Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a movement that began in the early 1980s. Some became involved in the sex-positive feminist movement in response to efforts by anti-pornography feminists, such as Catharine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, Robin Morganand Dorchen Leidholdt, to put pornography at the center of a feminist explanation of women's oppression (McElroy, 1995). This period of intense debate and acrimony between sex-positive and anti-pornography feminists during the early 1980s is often referred to as the "Feminist Sex Wars". Other sex-positive feminists became involved not in opposition to other feminists but in direct response to what they saw as patriarchal control of sexuality. Authors who have advocated sex-positive feminism include Ellen Willis, Susie Bright, Patrick Califia, Gayle Rubin, Carol Queen, Avedon Carol, Tristan Taormino, Diana Cage, Nina Hartley, and Betty Dodson, who could be regarded as the grandmother of the movement. -fixed citation for McElroy

  1. ^ Gabosch, Allena (2008-02-26). "A Sex Positive Renaissance". Retrieved 2014-09-12.
  2. ^ The Fabulous MiSylvester.