WUNRN
This
E-Journal is an initiative of the Pathways
of Women’s Empowerment Research and Communications Programme - a collaborative
initiative of BRAC
University in Bangladesh, the Centre for Gender and Advocacy Studies at the
University of Ghana, the Social Research Center at the American
University in Cairo in Egypt, the Institute of Development Studies in the
UK, the
Nucleus for Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies at the Federal
University of Bahia in Brazil and UNIFEM.
CONTESTATIONS - DIALOGUES ON WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT
Issue 2// Sexual Pleasure Empowers Women!
Sexual Pleasure Empowers Women!
Photo: Sheikh Rajibul Islam
Images of women as victims are rampant in gender and development. This is particularly the case in discussions of sexuality, where the world is portrayed as so fraught with danger, it seems almost impossible to imagine women enjoying themselves. This focus on the negative can be paralyzing – both in terms of ease with one’s own body, and in terms of mobilizing around women’s wants and desires. And such narratives dovetail with religious right agendas to protect women’s chastity. In this article, I argue that promoting pleasure is one part of how to get beyond victimhood, and can even help in addressing sexual violence.
Victim Narratives
Disempower Women
Mohanty’s critique of victim representations of third world women, although
written in 1991, is sadly still relevant. In her now renowned piece ‘Under
Western Eyes’ she considers a series of writings by ‘first world’ feminists on
women in development. The texts she considers homogenize third world women as
objects of what is done to them, and as victims of either ‘male violence’, ‘the
colonial process’, the ‘Arab familial system’, ‘the economic development
process’ or ‘the Islamic code’ (Mohanty 1991: 73).
This discourse continues today, perpetuated by feminists in the south as
well as the north. In
A powerful current version of the victim narrative is about women’s absolute vulnerability to HIV/AIDS due to male violence and economic coercion. Images are given of cheating husbands transmitting the virus to faithful wives who have no possibility to say no to sex or suggest using a condom.
It is true that many women are pressured into unsafe sex by violence and
economic dependency, and efforts to tackle these are hugely important. However,
the emphasis on gender inequality as the cause of unsafe sex gives only half
the picture. There’s an underlying idea here that men have total power in sex
while women just lie back and think of
This focus on the negative subsumes women’s sexuality under violence and fear in a way that crushes any space to explore their own desires. This emphasis can be disempowering, both on the level of individual relationships and ease with one’s own body, and on an organizational level of mobilizing around what women want. In a recent workshop at IDS, organized by the IDS Sexuality and Development Programme and Pathways of Women’s Empowerment, Bibi Bakare Yusuf, a Nigerian academic, described the effect as paralyzing – especially for younger women just coming into sexual consciousness.
These victim discourses are not just disempowering, they also lead to wrong
solutions such as the current wave of criminalization of transmission of
HIV/AIDS, aimed in part at penalising men who cheat on and deceive their wives,
even though these measures in reality hurt women as much as men. And dangerous
conversions also take place between certain feminist positions aiming to protect
women from sexual violence, and conservative forces concerned with women’s
chastity. This has already been observed in several instances: feminist
anti-pornography activists making alliances with right-wing groups in the US in
the 1980s; some Indian feminists’ images of Indian women as chaste and
vulnerable to sexual exploitation echoing the Hindu rights’ portrayal of
virtuous Indian womanhood; and the ‘unholy alliance’ between some feminist
groups and the Bush administration’s mobilisation against prostitution and
trafficking. Such discourses around protecting women from exploitation -
sexual and otherwise - have also been drawn upon by US neo-conservatives
to justify the invasion of
Pleasure is Part of the Solution
Calls have been made for the women’s movement to move beyond tackling injustice
to develop a vision of what we want to move towards – a vision which must
include sexual pleasure. Debates between Patricia McFadden, Charmaine Pereira
and others in the journal, Feminist
Africa, have looked at if and how sexual pleasure as a feminist
choice can be part of reclaiming women’s agency. In China, Huang calls for an
exploration of Chinese terms and sayings that suggest women’s sexual strength
and agency such as, ‘women in their 30s are wolves, in their 40s are tigers,
and in their 50s could even absorb the dust’ (Huang 2007: 4).
Pleasure can even help addressing sexual violence. Chi-Chi Undie argued at the IDS workshop that sexual wellbeing should be considered even in work on sexual violence. Otherwise, survivors remain forever defined by their negative experiences, unable to move beyond these to enjoy sexual relationships again. And if perpetrators only hear stories of sexual violence then they are given the impression that sexual violence is normal, and that no alternative is possible.
Several organisations worldwide have been taking a pleasure filled approach
to sexuality to empower women and others. The International Centre for
Reproductive Health and Rights (INCRESE) runs better sex and communication
training for couples in
HIV positive people are often expected to retire from sex and having children, regardless of their own desires. A wave of new laws criminalising HIV transmission obstruct happy relationships and makes it more difficult to support HIV positive people in deciding whether to have children, and to make it possible to do so without passing on the virus. Efforts are being made to contest these laws, and to affirm the sexual and reproductive desires of people living with HIV/AIDS. The Salamander Trust has recorded testimonies by women living with HIV/AIDS about their desires around whether or not to have children. The International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) has produced a recent guide for young people living with HIV/AIDS: ‘Happy, Healthy and Hot’ (2010) to give information on how to increase sexual pleasure, take care of health, practice safer sex, have children (if they so choose), develop strong intimate relationships and access support.
Pink Space NGO,
Victims No More!
The Refugee Law Project in
Susie Jolly
Sexuality and Development Programme Convenor
Institute of Development Studies
References
Huang Yingying (2007) ‘Perspective Matters: Moving Towards Affirmative Thinking
on ‘Xing’ in Contemporary
Huang Yingying, Pan Suiming, Peng Tao and Gao Yanning (2009) ‘Teaching Sexualities at Chinese Universities: Context, Experience, and Challenges’, International Journal of Sexual Health, 21.4: 282-295
International Planned Parenthood Foundation (2010) ‘Healthy, Happy and Hot: A Young Person’s Guide to their Rights, Sexuality, and Living with HIV’
McFadden, Patricia (2003) ‘Sexual Pleasure as Feminist Choice’, Feminist
Mohanty, Chandra (1991) ‘Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourse’, in C. Mohanty, A. Russo and L. Torres (eds), Third World Women and The Politics of Feminism, Bloomington: Indiana University Press
Pei Yuxin, Sik-ying Ho Petula, Ng Man Lun (2007) ‘Studies on Women’s
Sexuality in
Pereira, Charmaine (2003) ‘Where Angels Fear to Tread?” Some Thoughts on Patricia McFadden’s “Sexual Pleasure as Feminist Choice’, Feminist Africa, 2
Petchesky, Ros (2005) ‘Rights of the Body and Perversions of War: Sexual Rights and Wrongs Ten Years Past Beijing’, UNESCO’s International Science Journal, Special Issue on Beijing Plus Ten, 57
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to:
wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.