Sheila Jeffreys

This book seeks to explain why harmful beauty practices persist and have become so extreme. It also considers how a culture of resistance to these practices can be created.

Harmful Cultural Practices in the West

Beauty and Misogyny

Lorene Gottschalk

It is only recently that transgenderism has been accepted as a disorder for which treatment is available. In the 1990s, a political movement of transgender activism coalesced to campaign for transgender rights. Considerable social, political and legal changes are occurring in response and there is increasing acceptance by governments and many other organisations and actors of the legitimacy of these rights. This provocative and controversial book explores the consequences of these changes and offers a feminist perspective on the ideology and practice of transgenderism, which the author sees as harmful. It explores the effects of transgenderism on the lesbian and gay community, the partners of people who transgender, children who are identified as transgender and the people who transgender themselves, and argues that these are negative. In doing so the book contends that the phenomenon is based upon sex stereotyping, referred to as 'gender' – a conservative ideology that forms the foundation for women's subordination. Gender Hurts argues for the abolition of 'gender', which would remove the rationale for transgenderism. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of political science, feminism and feminist theory and gender studies.

A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism

Gender Hurts

the political economy of the global sex trade

The industrial vagina

Unpacking Queer Politics argues that the strong lesbian feminist movement of the 1970s, which was able to articulate a philosophy and practice that distinguished lesbian politics from gay male politics, was submerged in the 1990s beneath a gay male agenda called queer politics. The new politics repudiated lesbian feminist ideas and celebrated 'manhood' as a goal for gay men. Practices which construct this 'manhood', such as sadomasochism, cutting and piercing, female-to-male transsexual surgery, and which are promoted in queer politics, need to be understood as forms of self-harm which result from the oppression of lesbians and gay men. The political agenda of queer politics is damaging to the interests of lesbians, women in general, and to marginalized and vulnerable constituencies of gay men. The book concludes by arguing that precisely the commitment to equality in relationships and sex that has been so important to lesbian feminists, and so excoriated in much of queer theory, should form the basis of a social transformation. In this way lesbians should be seen as the vanguard of social change.

A Lesbian Feminist Perspective

Unpacking Queer Politics

The sexual revolution of the 1960's and 1970's is generally considered a time when the women's movement made great strides. In this provocative book, Sheila Jeffreys argues that this much heralded sexual freedom did not constitute any real gain for women but continued the tradition of their oppression. At the root of sexual liberation, Jeffreys finds an increasing eroticization of power differences within the heterosexual, lesbian, and gay communities.

A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution

Anticlimax

Annotation. This feminist text is released here with a revised and updated introduction. It examines the activities of feminist campaigners around such issues as child abuse and prostitution and how these campaigns shaped social purity in the 1880s and 1890s.

Feminism and Sexuality, 1880-1930

The Spinster and Her Enemies

The Idea of Prostitution

Introduction -- The origins of lesbian feminism -- Lesbian culture -- The lesbian perspective -- Separatism -- Political lesbianism and heterosexuality -- Sadomasochism: the challenge to the politics of sexual equality -- The gender backlash: butch/femme roleplaying -- Identity politics and the destruction of lesbian feminism: "The CIA couldn't have done it better" (Rahila of Southall Black Sisters, 1986) -- The demise of lesbian feminism

Lesbian Feminism in the UK, 1970-1990

The Lesbian Revolution

religion and the eclipse of women's rights in world politics

Man's dominion

The Sexuality Debates

The Male Sex Right and Women's Subordination

Penile Imperialism

There are (at least) two competing views on prostitution: prostitution as a legitimate and acceptable form of employment, freely chosen by women and men's use of prostitution as a form of degrading the women and causing grave psychological damage. In 'The Idea of Prostitution' Sheila Jeffreys explores these sharply contrasting views.

A critique of the lesbian sex industry's efforts to profit from women's oppression.

A Feminist Perspective on the Lesbian Sexual Revolution

The Lesbian Heresy

The sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s is remembered as a time of great freedom for women. But did the sexual revolution have the same goals as the Women's Liberation Movement? Was it truly liberation for women or just another insidious form of oppression? In this provocative book, Shelia Jeffreys argues that sexual freedom sometimes directly opposed actual freedom for women. Anticlimax traces sexual mores and attitudes from the 1950s to the 1990s, exploring the nature of both straight and gay relationships and offering original and compelling commentary on Lolita, Naked Lunch, The Joy of Sex, The Masters/Johnson report, and other representations in the literature on sexuality. At the root of sexual liberation, Sheila Jeffreys finds an increasing eroticisation of power differences within heterosexual, lesbian and gay communities. Her alternative vision of sexual relations based on equality is a major statement in the debates over sex and violence that remain relevant in discussions about the Slutwalks, sexualisation of girls and the pervasiveness of porn culture.

Margaret Jackson

Leslie Kay

Pat Mahony

Lal Coveney

Originally published in 1984. The history of sex in the last 100 years has usually been written as a story of progress from repression to sexual liberation. This book argues that the reverse is true, demonstrating that the ‘sexual revolution’ came as a backlash to a women’s movement which challenged men’s sexual abuse and tried to reconstruct male sexuality in women’s interest. At first it looks at those groups at the turn of the twentieth century who campaigned to challenge prevailing ideas about sexual behaviour. It moves on to review the work of the most influential sexologists Ellis, Kinsey, Masters and Johnson, and then presents a critical analysis of the sex magazine Forum.

Male Sexuality and the Social Control of Women

The Sexuality Papers

The Lesbian Revolution argues that lesbian feminists were a vital force in the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM). They did not just play a fundamental role in the important changes wrought by second wave feminism, but created a powerful revolution in lesbian theory, culture and practice. Yet this lesbian revolution is undocumented. The book shows that lesbian feminists were founders of feminist institutions such as resources for women survivors of men’s violence, including refuges and rape crisis centres, and that they were central to campaigns against this violence. They created a feminist squatting movement, theatre groups, bands, art and poetry and conducted campaigns for lesbian rights. They also created a profound and challenging analysis of sexuality which has disappeared from the historical record. They analysed heterosexuality as a political institution, arguing that lesbianism was a political choice for feminists and, indeed, a form of resistance in itself. Using interviews with prominent lesbian feminists from the time of the WLM, and informed by the author's personal experience, this book aims to challenge the way the work and ideas of lesbian feminists have been eclipsed and to document the lesbian revolution. The book will be of key interest to scholars and students of women’s history, the history of feminism, the politics of sexuality, women’s studies, gender studies, lesbian and gay studies, queer studies and cultural studies, as well as to the lay reader interested in the WLM and feminism more generally.

Lesbian Feminism in the UK 1970-1990

In diesem Buch wurdem verschiedene Arbeiten der Autorin, Sheila Jeffreys, aus ihrem Leben als Aktivistin und Professorin gesammelt. Das Buch ist eine Ausgabe, die verschiedene Analysen der Autorin zu den wichtigsten feministischen Themen vereint, von denen einige in der zweiten feministischen Welle entstanden, aber auch heute noch relevant sind. Wir haben es mit einer Autorin zu tun, die angesichts des neuen patriarchalen Rückschlags, den wir derzeit durch den Transaktivismus erleben, der versucht, Frauen als rechtliche und soziale Kategorie auszulöschen und Männern den Zugang zu sicheren Räumen zu ermöglichen, für die Frauen und Feministinnen vor Jahrhunderten gekämpft haben, von großer Bedeutung ist.

Feministische Stimmen: Sheila Jeffreys

From the white-slave traffic of the 19th century to present-day business practices, this well-researched report examines the changing concept of prostitution, exploring its initial roles as a form of sexual freedom and a way for women to escape poverty to a contemporary role as a human rights violation. Arguing against sexual violence, this record investigates various aspects related to the topic, including male prostitution, military brothels, and pornography. Comparing the act with slavery and marital rape, this new edition explores the claims of the prostitutes' rights movement and the burgeoning sex industry. This invaluable book is not only informative vis-à-vis the condition of prostituted individuals but also determined in its convictions.

It is only recently that transgenderism has been accepted as a disorder for which treatment is available. In the 1990s, a political movement of transgender activism coalesced to campaign for transgender rights. Considerable social, political and legal changes are occurring in response and there is increasing acceptance by governments and many other organisations and actors of the legitimacy of these rights. This provocative and controversial book explores the consequences of these changes and offers a feminist perspective on the ideology and practice of transgenderism, which the author sees as harmful. It explores the effects of transgenderism on the lesbian and gay community, the partners of people who transgender, children who are identified as transgender and the people who transgender themselves, and argues that these are negative. In doing so the book contends that the phenomenon is based upon sex stereotyping, referred to as 'gender' – a conservative ideology that forms the foundation for women's subordination. Gender Hurts argues for the abolition of ‘gender’, which would remove the rationale for transgenderism. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of political science, feminism and feminist theory and gender studies.

Sheila Jeffreys

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