Daily Dose: 175

Feminism in 3D: Defy, Disobey, Disrupt

Logo: Sheyam Ghieth

“What I felt lacked in my elementary sexual education was the important discussion of consent. I was given abstinence and fear sexual education. So I am familiar with the notion that I should not openly want to have sex, and that I must be pursued and persuaded into sex. . . . And this is, according to me, a result of the social conditioning of patriarchy. What I lacked in my sexual education was an extensive conversation on consent, agency and sexuality in all its forms. I could have benefited from understanding what constitutes harassment, that some people desire sex and some don’t. Sex isn’t simply the penetration of a vagina by a penis. Sex can be enjoyed, and there is nothing “loose” about being a woman who craves sex,” South African feminist Nthabiseng Nooe, who launched a nationwide campaign in 2016 called #FillUpThisPussy to get South Africans talking about consent, slut-shaming, and women’s pleasure, with the vision “to have a world of people who get toe-curling orgasms and experience that party that sex is.” It is important to hear the voices of women around the world owning desire and pleasure. It is especially important for me to find nonwhite and non-Western voices that challenge heteronormativity and mononormativity, used to refer to the assumption that “normal” romantic or sexual relationships relationships are those limited to two monogamous people.