Bi-Weekly Sexual Freedom Newsletter
Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Op-Ed: There Is No Queer Liberation Without Prison Abolition (them.) 

Gem Nwanne argues that queer liberation requires that we fight for abolition: “Abolition encourages us to face the lies we have been told about what justice looks like and take active steps towards unlearning and rebuilding. In addition to the removal of the violent systems that seek to oppress us, abolition also requires an active commitment to building support systems that actually make our Black, queer communities safer. If we are to continue living in a world that seeks to disappear us through prison and police violence, abolition must be central to any movement for queer liberation.” Read more.

Love No Limit: Exploring Sexual Fantasy during the Pandemic (Bitch Media) 

Josie Pickens explores the topic of sexual fantasy in this time of crisis: “We’re all thinking about pleasure in different ways right now: Sex is the last thing on some of our minds because we now have so many other competing priorities. Plus, our fantasies may revolve around the plans we’d made before the coronavirus turned our worlds upside down; instead of our vacations, museum visits, exquisite dining, and other forms of pleasure, we might find ourselves longing for sexual connection, orgasms not crafted by our own hands, and the kind of sex we’ve been waiting our entire lives to experience.” Read more.

Why Students Need Sex Education That’s Honest About Racism (Rewire.News) 

Christine Soyong Harley argues that it is imperative for sex education to be anti-racist: “Those of us who work in the field of sex education are no strangers to having difficult conversations. We have made great strides in orchestrating effective discussions around topics of sex, sexuality, and gender among parents, policymakers, educators, advocates, and young people. However, there is one topic that we all need to work to better address within sex education: race. [...] We need to do our part to honor George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and the many other Black lives taken by police violence and white supremacy.” Read more.

Sex Offender Registries Are Fueling Mass Incarceration — And They Aren’t Helping Survivors (Jacobin) 

Paul M. Renfro discusses sex offender registries and the ways in which they bolster the carceral state: “US sex offender registries now list nearly one million people. Federal, state, and local ordinances prohibit convicted sex offenders from living within a certain distance of schools, parks, day care centers, and other spaces where children might congregate. [...] Such measures might seem sensible to a broad swath of the American public. Indeed, as Judith Levine and Erica Meiners argue, sex offenders’ very humanity remains an open question. Yet these sorts of steps misrepresent the scope and nature of sexual harm in the United States, fueling mass incarceration while doing little to actually help survivors.” Read more.

The Black Radical Tradition Can Help Us Imagine a More Just World (Truthout) 

Brian Lozenski writes about the Black radical tradition and the capacity to imagine a more just education system and world: “If anything, the COVID-19 pandemic and the mass uprisings against racialized state violence have effectively exposed the farce of an education system largely built on the rationalizations of free-market economies, social hierarchies, and dehumanizing, technicized approaches to teaching and learning. Understanding that this pandemic, once survived, is simply one iteration of more to come in a configuration of global power that praises regimes of production at all human and non-human costs, the world’s only choice is to abandon these regimes and their inherent practices of social control.” Read more.

Changing Tides: Black Feminists Are Mobilizing for Trans Women (Bitch Media) 

Koritha Mitchell discusses Black feminists’ work to mobilize for trans people: “When we focus on people who live (and disproportionately die) at the intersection of multiple forms of oppression, we gain insight into what harms those at intersections with less traffic. And we’ve seen the ways that the tides change when people come together to rally to protect trans lives and Black trans lives: Nationwide, thousands showed up for Black trans people on June 14, a visual that previously felt impossible. But it was real. To honor Riah Milton, 25, and Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, 27, people mobilized. This rally to protect Black trans lives is truer to a Pride parade than the United States has seen in years. The fight for racial justice can only be enriched by feminist strategies developed with an eye toward trans inclusion and empowerment. Let’s continue to center this struggle.” Read more.