Feminist Carnival of Sexual Freedom and Autonomy: Sex & Consent Edition

Back in June 2008 I hosted the Fourth Carnival of Sexual Freedom and autonomy – and I’m doing it again! You can find out more about the Carnival here – this time I decided to get thematic. There’s been a lot of fiery and interesting conversation happening over the past month about sexuality and consent, so I thought I’d pull together some of the interesting stuff I’ve been reading on that subject, especially the spotlights on two controversial men: Roman Polanski and Tucker Max.

First up, a really fantastic piece by Heather Corinna, for Scarleteen, called How You Guys Can Prevent Rape. IN this piece, Heather writes about the concept of enthusiastic consent; it’s a really great starting point for this batch of links.

When someone wants to, really wants to, have sex with us, we’ll know because that person will be taking a very active role, will be saying — if not yelling! — “Yes!” or “Please!” or “Do me NOW!” We may know because that person is the one initiating sex, at least as often as we are. (If you’re going to say that younger women just aren’t like that yet, know that isn’t always true. Some are, but those who aren’t likely aren’t because things are either moving too fast, or they really just aren’t ready for or that interested in sex with you yet.) We’ll know because it will feel like something we are absolutely doing together, that couldn’t happen if the other person wasn’t just as engaged as we are (imagine trying to dance with someone else when they’re just standing there or not really paying attention: same goes with sex). We’ll know because our partners will absolutely not “just be lying there.”

Nancy Schwartzman has recently debuted a smart, nuanced, thought-provoking short documentary called The Line, and with it, an online and offline campaign about sexuality and consent. The website features a group blog that explores issues around sexuality and consent – I tried to pick a post that I wanted to highlight, and I couldn’t do it. So, check out the blog, videos, and this very cool project.

At Salon’s Broadsheet, Kate Harding writes about Roman Polanski and the radical act of listening to girls and women:

On the other hand, as a society, we do seem to believe that 13-year-olds are capable of knowing whether they wanted it, at least under some circumstances. Like, for instance, when a famous, powerful 43-year-old man says they did. At that point, many of us will happily take his word for it that it wasn’t “rape-rape.” According to him, she said yes, so never mind what she says about it. Never mind what she said under oath to a grand jury. If she’s post-pubescent, and there’s a question of “he said/she said,” plenty of people just stop at “he said.”

Always Aroused Girl hones in on the meat of the matter in the Polanski case: he raped a 13-year old girl.

Cleofaye tangles with kink, trust, and power play.

The Village Voice covers a group of feminist activists who defaced posters for the new tucker Max movie, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell.

On The Undomestic, Amanda puts forward four reasons why you should not see the Tucker Max flick.

And last but not least, in a community post that got picked up on the front page of Feministing, Jerin Alam does some great reporting on the film and various activists responses to it, such as:

When asked about Max’s response that the activists can’t take a joke, John Foubert, author of The Men’s Program: A Peer Education Guide to Rape Prevention , stated, “His [Max’s] dismissal of his statements as being ‘just a joke’ suggest to me that either he is incapable of empathy – or that he has no conscience – both high risk factors for [committing] rape. Either way, women, and people who care about them, should be deeply concerned about this man and his statements.”