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The Right to Sex cover art

The Right to Sex

By: Amia Srinivasan
Narrated by: Andia Winslow
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Summary

Bloomsbury presents The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan, read by Andia Winslow.

How should we talk about sex? It is a thing we have and also a thing we do: a supposedly private act laden with public meaning, a personal preference shaped by outside forces, a place where pleasure and ethics can pull wildly apart.

Since #MeToo, many have fixed on consent as the key framework for achieving sexual justice. Yet consent is a blunt tool. To grasp sex in all its complexity - its deep ambivalences, its relationship to gender, class, race and power - we need to move beyond ‘yes and no’, wanted and unwanted.

We need to interrogate the fraught relationships between discrimination and preference, pornography and freedom, rape and racial injustice, punishment and accountability, pleasure and power, capitalism and liberation. We need to rethink sex as a political phenomenon.

Searching, trenchant and extraordinarily original, The Right to Sex is a landmark examination of the politics and ethics of sex in this world, animated by the hope of a different one.

©2021 Amia Srinivasan (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Amia Srinivasan is the most brilliant feminist theorist writing today. Each essay in The Right to Sex is a masterpiece on its own; taken together, they show how learning to think carefully and precisely about the politics of desire is the preeminent ethical project of our time." (Merve Emre)

"Unparalleled and extraordinary.... A bracing revivification of a crucial lineage in feminist writing." (Jia Tolentino)

"Laser-cut writing and a stunning intellect. If only every writer made this much beautiful sense." (Lisa Taddeo, best-selling author of Three Women)

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Not factual or balanced and very angry

The author knows nothing about the objective studies that have been made on violence or doesn't care. Furthermore and ethically, she writes from a very privileged standpoint while claiming she doesn't. Dishonesty or ignorance.

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8 people found this helpful

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A vital, necessary book for all

I first came across Amia Srinivasan in the London Review of Books, in a truly remarkable analysis of the the “Incel” phenomenon, where her key insights included identifying traditional masculinity and its role in sustaining social hierarchy as the real enemy of the incels, as well as questioning the pre-political status accorded to sexual desire. This is repeated here, alongside many other key insights and points - backed up with real statistics and case studies.

Going far outside the usual stories in the press, from Hollywood and Washington, Srinivasan exposes the racial and class tensions in #BelieveHer, the way that even something that seems positive and simple can rebound to the advantage of those at the top of the social hierarchy. Myths, commonly believed but baseless, are exploded, including the classic trope about the false rape-accusing woman. Srinivasan correctly identifies the role of the state as the problem - the enemy of a man accused of rape is not the woman, it is police and prosecutorial misconduct, in the main.

Questions are asked about what we should demand, from the state, from employers, from each other, in a way that goes beyond the really boneheaded rubbish one sees in the press, both by so-called “feminists” or the blowhard micro-penis types one reads in the conservative press, throwing their dummies out of the pram because anyone dares question the privileges of wealthy, white, able-bodied men. For my money this book is a sensitive, nuanced book that everyone, regardless of their perspective, will get something out of.

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6 people found this helpful

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fantastic

I loved it. I haven't read a book this well argued in a very long time. Audio quality and narration was on point too.

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Some good points made

Book was okay not a book not a book I could recommend.. title can be misleading.

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Eye-opening and empowering

An incredible read. Superb articulation of the complexities, problems and endeavours of gender relations and feminism. It was reassuring to see many of my own personal experiences and conflicts as a woman explored and, in some cases for the first time, recognised in this book, and it was also fascinating and inspiring to hear ideas of how feminism can be improved moving forward into the future.

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amazing book!

this is an amazing book, I totally recommend!! For someone new to gender studies, it can be a bit overwhelming. Yet you can take the references and learn more. It is a good starting point.
For people more educated on the matter, it will be easier to read and understand but clarifies very well the connection between gender, sexism, poverty, capitalism, etc. I will definitely buy a hard copy to have at home. Amazing work.

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  • 27-06-23

Fascinating!

Fascinating and well worth a read! It gives me a lot to think about. I’m glad I read it.

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Why patriarchy persists

An insightful account of why capitalism, patriarchy and racial injustice continue and why they need to be dismantled together.

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Excellent

The most nuanced book on gender relations I have come across, essential reading for feminists and anybody else interested in the effects capitalism has on race and gender.

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Just amazing!!

Learnt soo much, so much to think about. A truly amazing book. Made so many notes, will likely also buy the physical book to reread.

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