The Gen-Z experience is often defined by an onslaught of quick, accessible online information. It is easier than ever to gain specific insights on real-world events and political movements, resulting in a substantial portion of young users self-identifying as activists on various social media sites. For many, this level of online political engagement can be highly beneficial in spreading awareness of local or international conflicts, giving certain underrepresented voices the platform to speak about new social movements or protests.
Naturally, the design of many popular social media sites runs counter to the full conveyance of any one social movement or ideology. Character limits or max slide counts can easily encourage the reduction of nuanced, complicated movements into something far more elementary, leading to the prevalence of certain black-and-white beliefs that largely ignore more critical engagement in an effort to preserve their own viewpoints.
I and many other young users bear witness to this phenomenon several times a day in spaces on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, etc. Originally, I was under the impression that only discussions or debates of a monumental scale were likely to see such intense polarization. Thus, I found myself in near disbelief when the topic of sadomasochistic sex practices was being politicized and co-opted into anti-kink radical feminist rhetoric.
The intricacies of several centuries worth of feminist social movements cannot be adequately delved into here, much less 280 characters of content. When I discovered that different branches of feminism were being weaponized against each other, namely the contributions of kink-based sex educators, I couldn’t help but think a movement that had grown so personal to me was under threat of severe and arbitrary splintering. There should be no reason for a woman’s (or anyone’s) personal sex life to be examined for its feminist merits. In suggesting that certain women are acting as extensions of the patriarchy by enacting their own sexual desires, anti-kink radical feminism implies that women are intellectually incapable of acknowledging their own place within the patriarchy and taking control of their actions. Simultaneously, those holding such beliefs often silence or ignore the real testimonies of others with experience in power-play, preferring to discredit them by insisting they are products of a patriarchal society rather than its dissenters.
Thus, my project will aim to critically reflect on many common talking points within this subsect of radical feminism and evaluate their impact on popular online spheres. Over the course of the 2024 Summer semester, I will be writing a nonfiction personal narrative piece that highlights my own experience with this rhetoric along with its impact on my feminist identity. As a Creative Writing major and Psychology minor, I hope to merge the two of my studies into a comprehensive piece that outlines the major role of nuance in contemporary kink and feminist discourse.
After my undergraduate studies, I hope to attend a Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program and become a licensed sex therapist. Despite our society becoming remarkably more sex-positive in recent decades, more still needs to be done to create an environment where discussions of intimacy, especially as it pertains to kink, are seen as perfectly natural. It is my goal that my future practice will be founded on the principle that consensual sex and kink, in all their expressions, do not have to come at the cost of your feminism.
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