Refereed journal articles
Refereed journal articles
In recent years, scholars have identified a political formation that mobilizes the emancipatory energies of feminism in the service of the expansion of the carceral state. ‘Carceral feminism’, as it has come to be known, is often portrayed by these scholars as a product feminist-conservative convergence. Here, I argue that the rise of the SlutWalk movement suggests a more complex genealogy for carceral feminism. By situating SlutWalk in the historico-theoretical context of feminism’s sex wars, I reveal the carceral-feminist impulses roiling beneath its progressive ‘sex-positive’ surface. With its tendency to reduce sexual freedom to expressive freedom, valorize conventional forms of femininity and (hetero)sexuality, and promote a fundamentally carceral paradigm of sexual freedom, the SlutWalk movement, I argue, is descended from anti-censorship/pro-sex feminism, a liberal-feminist hybrid that emerged out of the convergence of sex radical feminism and liberalism during the sex wars. When viewed in this light, SlutWalk no longer appears as a sign that feminism’s ‘pleasure’ and ‘danger’ factions have negotiated a long-awaited ‘sex-détente’. Rather, it stands as a testament to the extent to which feminism’s once radical aspirations in the domain of sexual politics have been supplanted by a tepid, heteronormative, and disquietingly carceral liberal project.
"Sex Wars, Slut Walks, and Carceral Feminism." Contemporary Political Theory. (Forthcoming)
In recent years, scholars have identified a political formation that mobilizes the emancipatory energies of feminism in the service of the expansion of the carceral state. ‘Carceral feminism’, as it has come to be known, is often portrayed by these scholars as a product feminist-conservative convergence. Here, I argue that the rise of the SlutWalk movement suggests a more complex genealogy for carceral feminism. By situating SlutWalk in the historico-theoretical context of feminism’s sex wars, I reveal the carceral-feminist impulses roiling beneath its progressive ‘sex-positive’ surface. With its tendency to reduce sexual freedom to expressive freedom, valorize conventional forms of femininity and (hetero)sexuality, and promote a fundamentally carceral paradigm of sexual freedom, the SlutWalk movement, I argue, is descended from anti-censorship/pro-sex feminism, a liberal-feminist hybrid that emerged out of the convergence of sex radical feminism and liberalism during the sex wars. When viewed in this light, SlutWalk no longer appears as a sign that feminism’s ‘pleasure’ and ‘danger’ factions have negotiated a long-awaited ‘sex-détente’. Rather, it stands as a testament to the extent to which feminism’s once radical aspirations in the domain of sexual politics have been supplanted by a tepid, heteronormative, and disquietingly carceral liberal project.
"Sex Wars, Slut Walks, and Carceral Feminism." Contemporary Political Theory. (Forthcoming)
Bio
Lorna Bracewell is a political theorist and associate professor of political science at Flagler College. Her scholarship focuses on feminist theory and the history of political thought and has been published in academic journals like Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society and popular forums like The Washington Post. Her book, Why We Lost the Sex Wars: Sexual Freedom in the #MeToo Era (University of Minnesota Press, March 2021), offers a revisionist history of the feminist sexuality debates of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s foregrounding the influence of liberal concepts such as freedom of expression, the public/private divide, and the harm principle. It is available for purchase from the publisher here.
Contact
Dr. Lorna Bracewell
Flagler College
Department of Humanities
74 King Street
St. Augustine, FL 32084
+1 727.479.5968