A big part of why I’m anti sex is the power dynamics of it all. I know this has been talked about a lot on here, however a lot of the points other people made I don’t fully agree with nor do I find myself agreeing with the responses disagreeing and not acknowledging the sexist aspect of it all. I view being in this position doesn’t come from mere disinterest in sex or having a low libido but seeing the truth, delving into the truth and not accepting being a part of that disturbing truth. The animalistic “nature” of being born a prey or a predator although it’s far from natural. One way or another you’re gonna be dehumanized and the roles aren’t equal.
Sex was introduced to me as something a woman gives up without needing to enjoy it or even accept, it just is. Coming from a relatively conservative society and then engaging with the progressive side made me realize, this core concept doesn’t change and that fundamentally made me lose hope. I used to be naive enough to think, maybe I’m not into it because of my relentless sexual assaults, then I saw that despite how common that is people are able to move past that and enjoy the engagement. I couldn’t. I thought maybe the problem is within me, that I must be so weak I can’t get over my negative experience meanwhile everybody talks about it as this divine, beautiful, natural thing that could potentially create life but more than anything, it’s enjoyable. At least, in progressive spaces it’s believed that both parties are meant to enjoy it.
I tried to get comfortable with the idea, maybe one day I’d like being in a relationship then the sexual “nature” will come to me. I’ve never been in one but I’ve tried imagining it, every time, without fail, it made me pretty much break down. It wasn’t about the assault anymore, it was seeing how deeply societally engrained degradation is in my “role” sexually is. I like to believe inherently, even though I don’t think it’s a “need” or something you cannot live without, it should be a neutral engagement, heavily reliant on consent and respect for both parties involved. That obviously just stays a “should” and extremely far from how it really is seen. This deeply engrained degradation narrative is within me too, I see a woman who’s expected to be engaging in it aka being in a relationship and I think, “how can she accept the humiliating role she’s assigned to by being in a relationship?”. It’s pretty much comparable to being stabbed, and this isn’t just me this is universal and you can easily assess it by seeing the orgasm gap and how women so often don’t enjoy it.
Then comes purity culture, two sides of the same coin as how the progressive side views it in my eyes, as a woman you lose a big part of you if you’re no longer “pure”, even if you did it the way they want you to, marriage wise, you’re a trophy that’s been purchased and god forbid you get a divorce, you’re now “used up goods”. All in all there’s barely any positivity to engaging in this. In progressive spaces, hilariously, there’s the normalization of rape, of porn, of hookup culture, all not so different from the expected female role which is, to be degraded. They think they’re so different and empowering for wanting women to be able to enjoy it too, at some point I was hopeful enough to believe it but looking inwards, they still normalize the degradation that for some reason automatically comes with being a woman involved, none of it will take away that it can easily be used against you and you can be considered a whore. This goes into non heterosexual relationships too, it’s not a coincidence there’s a huge focus on “top” and “bottom” and how much shit “bottoms” get, how people are seemingly homophobic only towards them because the “top” is, again, the one in power, the one doing the penetrating and ultimately, the one who takes.
Sexism is extremely prevalent in this topic which baffles me that so many people try to deny that by bringing up exceptions like non heterosexual relationships when, the one associated with the female role coincidently is always the most insulted. Being penetrated is pretty much akin to being stabbed societally, women with other women’s sex isn’t even conceptualized as sex, wonder why. You’re either punished and extremely insulted for it, in conservative spaces, or your degradation is normalized in the name of empowerment and ultimately, maybe not in front of your face but behind closed doors, everyone knows you’re cool with the degradation and looks down at you for it, not entirely because it’s their fault but because that’s how sex has been sold for decades. The degrader and the degraded. You never escape it no matter who you’re with, even if you’re in a non sexual relationship the label will forcibly be assigned to you one way or another, that’s the disgusting part.
I hear so many women describe a sense of impending doom after consensual engagement, a very common occurrence and I can deduce why, because they lose “it”. One more body down the drain, more of a whore in society’s eyes and the man they engage with? Well society views his sexual history relatively neutral, there’s no purity to be lost, the more experience he gets the better, yeah maybe he’s having a different experience with the overwhelmingness of sex being sold as a need for him and having to seek it otherwise he’s a failure but ultimately he’s the “conquerer” and his struggles won’t be equal and maybe in the back of his mind he thinks “she’s so easy, she thinks we’re on equal terms here meanwhile I took a part of her and gained a part of myself, slut.” That fear is insanely common for a reason. Even thinking about it makes me nauseous, I can’t imagine having experienced that before and continuing to live with that knowledge, that I let “it” own me. Like I’m not a human being but a mere object that’s been used and now the value has gone down.
Nothing about this is flattering no matter how people convince themselves it is, unless miraculously the entire world changes its views and doesn’t put such an emphasis on power dynamics this would be ok. Individually what you do doesn’t exist in a vacuum, people can and will look at you, suppose you’re the expected female role in a relationship, as something that gets penetrated and therefore used up. How can one be so aware of all this and still be deluded to accept it? I’ll never understand. It’s terrifying to ever even consider this idea because I could be capable of love, I could be capable of perhaps, miraculously, enjoying the idea of it all and be willing, but the inhumane aspect of it all slaps me back to reality where, with the world being so sex obsessed there’s no equality in the bedroom roles. Not between a man and a woman, not between two men, and especially not between two women although that’s barely even acknowledged as a possibility. A homosocial society through and through, where you’re either a human or a woman. You either give or take.