Click.... when we knew we were feminists

[*Anya*]

I have several thoughts about this issue actually and may appear to be random but are all related-or will be in the end.

I am a feminist. I am a lesbian. I am not only attracted to a woman's mind but am attracted to her sexually. A woman's body is beautiful to me. Looking at pictures of butches, I appreciate not only their handsome beauty but they also turn me on very much.

I also like to occasionally look at lesbian porn. Not the fake lesbian porn made by bio males but porn actually produced and directed by lesbians. I have even, on occasion, looked at gay male porn and found it arousing ( movie "The Kids are All Right" anyone?).

I also think that when we are objectifying ourselves, as in the Butches and Girl Pinup threads, there is an element of humor and joy to it. Feminism can also have humor and joyful play; I do not think they are mutually exclusive!

I remember the feminist protests against porn. I never participated in them because I felt they were grossly misguided when there were so many other, much more important issues of concern.

From Wiki, regarding the porn wars:

"Women Against Pornography (WAP) was a radical feminist activist group based out of New York City and an influential force in the anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and the 1980s.

WAP was the best known of a number of feminist anti-pornography groups that were active throughout the United States and the anglophone world, mainly from the late 1970s through the early 1990s. After previous failed attempts to start a broad feminist anti-pornography group in New York City, WAP was started in 1978. WAP quickly drew widespread support for its anti-pornography campaign, and in late 1979 held a March on Times Square that included over 5000 supporters. Their anti-pornography activism around Times Square also brought in unexpected financial support from the Mayor's office, theater owners, and other parties with an interest in the gentrification of Times Square.

WAP became known through their anti-pornography informational tours of sex shops and pornographic theaters in Times Square. In the 1980s, WAP began to focus more on lobbying and legislative efforts against pornography, particularly in support of civil-rights-oriented antipornography legislation. They were also active in testifying before the Meese Commission and some of their advocacy of a civil-rights based anti-pornography model found its way into the final recommendations of the commission. It became less active in the 1990s and faded out of existence in the mid-1990s.

The positions of the group were controversial. Civil libertarians opposed WAP and similar groups, holding that the legislative approaches WAP advocated amounted to censorship. Sex-positive feminists held that feminist campaigns against pornography were misdirected and ultimately threatened sexual freedoms and free speech rights in a way that would be ultimately detrimental toward women, gay people, and sexual minorities. WAP became involved in some particularly heated debates and skirmishes with sex-positive feminists, particularly in the events surrounding the 1982 Barnard Conference. These events were battles in what became known as the Feminist Sex Wars of the late 1970s and 1980s."

Bottom line, I believe we can be feminists and make our own porn, shoot our own photos, we can appreciate and love the beauty that is woman, femme or butch (whichever turns us on); in all of her glory-clothed or unclothed and it does not make us any less of a feminist.