FemSex responds to Unseth

Sir:

Joshua Unseth’s inaccurate, sexist rant on FemSex exemplified many of the less-flattering stereotypes circulating about conser-vatives: that they are uptight, sexually repressed, and anti-women.Although I agree with Unseth that students have a right to spaces that are free from sexual harassment, his article’s presumptions rendered it practically unreadable.

What he lacked in factual accuracy (or did he go to one of those abstinence-only education schools?),he more than made up for in generalizations and cliches. I can’t speak for them, but I think the women of FemSex would disagree with his description of their workshop. For one, women don’t need FemSex, or any other “excuse” to masturbate. Lord knows guys engage withouta-pology, and the clued-in ones know that women who masturbate are able to orgasm more easily, and protect their partner’s fragile ego from the crushing blow of sexual failure.

I would also like to point out that Unseth is incorrect in describing women’s liberation as nothing more than burned bras and dildos. Aside from the far more substantial social and political gains of second-wave feminism movement (maternity leave, pay equality, access to contraception), the bra burning image is pure myth– just one journalist’s attempt to summarize the upheaval of the late 60s by associating women’s lib protestors,(some of whom did throw their bras in the unlit trash) with (male) draft-card burners. Additionally, representations of genitalia aren’t necessar-ily pornography. Unless it’s erotic material intended for sexual arousal, it’s just anatomy. Like one of Picasso’s nudes– since Unseth seems to have an interest in non-objective art. Luckily,Unseth made it explicitly clear that he was not aroused by the scandalous tableslip. Is he so disgusted by female genitalia that he would feel more comfortable tapping toes in airport bathrooms? Not to worry, if his homophobic co-editors turn on him, I’m sure the women of FemSex will be more accepting.

Sincerely,