Sheila Jeffreys
Encyclopedia
Sheila Jeffreys is a lesbian feminist
scholar and political activist, known for her analysis of the history and politics of sexuality
in Britain
. She is a professor in Political Science
at the University of Melbourne
in Australia
. Jeffreys's argument that the "sexual revolution
" on men
's terms contributed less to women
's freedom than to their continued oppression has both commanded respect and attracted intense criticism. Jeffreys argues that transsexuals
reproduce oppressive gender roles and mutilate their bodies through sex reassignment surgery
. Some of Jeffrey's other controversial positions are that lesbian
culture has been negatively impacted by emulating the sexist
influence of the gay male subculture of dominant/submissive sexuality, and that women suffering pain
in pursuit of beauty
is a form of submission to patriarchal
sadism
.
In 1979, Jeffreys helped write Love Your Enemy? The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism, a pamphlet that offered a definition of a political lesbian: "We do think... that all feminists can and should be lesbians. Our definition of a political lesbian is a woman-identified woman who does not fuck men. It does not mean compulsory sexual activity with women." Jeffreys was one of several contributors to The sexual dynamics of history: men's power, women's resistance, an anthology of feminist writings about gender relations published in 1983 under the name "London Feminist History Group." Jeffreys wrote the last of this book's eleven chapters, Sex reform and anti-feminism in the 1920s.
Jeffreys's best known historical work is The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality 1880-1930, published in 1985. It challenges the view that the sexual puritanism
of Victorian England was displaced by the scientifically enlightened ideas of sexologists such as Sigmund Freud
and Havelock Ellis
. It examines late 19th century and early 20th century feminist campaigns against child abuse
and prostitution
, identifying the New Woman
vision espoused by spokesmen for sexology
as a male backlash strategy. Jeffreys argues that these concepts were authoritarian
and interpreted women's sexuality to conform to men's preferences. She traces later adaptations of these concepts made to fit changing social conditions: the New Woman was modified to accommodate wartime pro-natalist
imperatives, and the sexually hedonistic
Flapper
Girl was invented to move women out of traditional male roles assumed by default during the World War I
period, which had allowed them greater independence in paid work at home and at the front.
In Anticlimax: A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution, published in 1990, Jeffreys criticises popular prescriptions for women's sexuality from the 1950s on in key texts including pornography
, sex manuals and surveys
, and best-selling novel
s. Having spent most of her life in the United Kingdom, Jeffreys moved to Australia in the early 1990s.
The Lesbian Heresy was published in 1993. In it Jeffreys is highly critical of sadomasochistic
practices that involved women. One author involved in sadomasochism cites Jeffreys' views in this book as an example of the "simplistic and dualistic thinking" among anti-sadomasochism campaigners, when she describes sadomasochism as "male supremacist", a reenactment of heterosexual male dominance and women's oppression, which glorifies violence and uses women's bodies as a sex aid, and as anti-lesbian and fascistic
. The author points out that Jeffreys ignores that some heterosexual women may enjoy sex, and that 'tops' may be women who work hard to give their 'bottoms' pleasure, rather than the passive recipients of sex in the way she describes.
Jeffreys book The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade: The Industrial Vagina, was published in February 2009. It describes the globalisation of the sex industry, and includes a controversial description of marriage as a form of prostitution; in her article on Jeffreys, Julie Bindel
quotes her: "the right of men to women's bodies for sexual use has not gone but remains an assumption at the basis of heterosexual relationships", and explains that she draws out more obvious links between marriage and prostitution, such as mail-order brides, which she sees as a form of trafficking.
Jeffreys has received attention for her views on transgender, transsexualism and gender reassignment
. In interview, Bindel explains that Jeffreys argues that transsexual surgery "is an extension of the beauty industry offering cosmetic solutions to deeper rooted problems", that in a society without gender this would be unnecessary. She describes 'transgender' surgeries as 'mutilation', and forced feminization pornography as portraying a view of women as less powerful.
Lesbian feminism
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective, most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s , that questions the position of lesbians and women in society. It particularly refutes heteronormativity, the assumption that everyone is "straight" and society should be structured to serve...
scholar and political activist, known for her analysis of the history and politics of sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. She is a professor in Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Jeffreys's argument that the "sexual revolution
Sexual revolution
The sexual revolution was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the 1960s into the 1980s...
" on men
Man
The term man is used for an adult human male . However, man is sometimes used to refer to humanity as a whole...
's terms contributed less to women
Woman
A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
's freedom than to their continued oppression has both commanded respect and attracted intense criticism. Jeffreys argues that transsexuals
Transsexualism
Transsexualism is an individual's identification with a gender inconsistent or not culturally associated with their biological sex. Simply put, it defines a person whose biological birth sex conflicts with their psychological gender...
reproduce oppressive gender roles and mutilate their bodies through sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
. Some of Jeffrey's other controversial positions are that lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
culture has been negatively impacted by emulating the sexist
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
influence of the gay male subculture of dominant/submissive sexuality, and that women suffering pain
Pain
Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...
in pursuit of beauty
Beauty
Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture...
is a form of submission to patriarchal
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
sadism
Sadistic personality disorder
Sadistic personality disorder is a diagnosis which appeared only in an appendix of the revised third edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . The current version of the DSM does not include it, so it is no longer considered a valid...
.
In 1979, Jeffreys helped write Love Your Enemy? The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism, a pamphlet that offered a definition of a political lesbian: "We do think... that all feminists can and should be lesbians. Our definition of a political lesbian is a woman-identified woman who does not fuck men. It does not mean compulsory sexual activity with women." Jeffreys was one of several contributors to The sexual dynamics of history: men's power, women's resistance, an anthology of feminist writings about gender relations published in 1983 under the name "London Feminist History Group." Jeffreys wrote the last of this book's eleven chapters, Sex reform and anti-feminism in the 1920s.
Jeffreys's best known historical work is The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality 1880-1930, published in 1985. It challenges the view that the sexual puritanism
Religious fanaticism
Religious fanaticism is fanaticism related to a person's, or a group's, devotion to a religion. However, religious fanaticism is a subjective evaluation defined by the culture context that is performing the evaluation. What constitutes fanaticism in another's behavior or belief is determined by the...
of Victorian England was displaced by the scientifically enlightened ideas of sexologists such as Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
and Havelock Ellis
Havelock Ellis
Henry Havelock Ellis, known as Havelock Ellis , was a British physician and psychologist, writer, and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He was co-author of the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and...
. It examines late 19th century and early 20th century feminist campaigns against child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
and prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, identifying the New Woman
New Woman
The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century. The New Woman pushed the limits set by male-dominated society, especially as modeled in the plays of Norwegian Henrik Ibsen . "The New Woman sprang fully armed from Ibsen's brain," according to a joke by Max Beerbohm...
vision espoused by spokesmen for sexology
Sexology
Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behavior, and function. The term does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sex, such as political analysis or social criticism....
as a male backlash strategy. Jeffreys argues that these concepts were authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
and interpreted women's sexuality to conform to men's preferences. She traces later adaptations of these concepts made to fit changing social conditions: the New Woman was modified to accommodate wartime pro-natalist
Natalism
Natalism is a belief that promotes human reproduction. The term is taken from the Latin adjective form for "birth", natalis. Natalism promotes child-bearing and glorifies parenthood...
imperatives, and the sexually hedonistic
Hedonism
Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....
Flapper
Flapper
Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior...
Girl was invented to move women out of traditional male roles assumed by default during the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
period, which had allowed them greater independence in paid work at home and at the front.
In Anticlimax: A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution, published in 1990, Jeffreys criticises popular prescriptions for women's sexuality from the 1950s on in key texts including pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
, sex manuals and surveys
Statistical survey
Survey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....
, and best-selling novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s. Having spent most of her life in the United Kingdom, Jeffreys moved to Australia in the early 1990s.
The Lesbian Heresy was published in 1993. In it Jeffreys is highly critical of sadomasochistic
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
practices that involved women. One author involved in sadomasochism cites Jeffreys' views in this book as an example of the "simplistic and dualistic thinking" among anti-sadomasochism campaigners, when she describes sadomasochism as "male supremacist", a reenactment of heterosexual male dominance and women's oppression, which glorifies violence and uses women's bodies as a sex aid, and as anti-lesbian and fascistic
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
. The author points out that Jeffreys ignores that some heterosexual women may enjoy sex, and that 'tops' may be women who work hard to give their 'bottoms' pleasure, rather than the passive recipients of sex in the way she describes.
Jeffreys book The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade: The Industrial Vagina, was published in February 2009. It describes the globalisation of the sex industry, and includes a controversial description of marriage as a form of prostitution; in her article on Jeffreys, Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel is an English writer, feminist and co-founder of the group Justice For Women, which opposes violence against women from a feminist viewpoint....
quotes her: "the right of men to women's bodies for sexual use has not gone but remains an assumption at the basis of heterosexual relationships", and explains that she draws out more obvious links between marriage and prostitution, such as mail-order brides, which she sees as a form of trafficking.
Jeffreys has received attention for her views on transgender, transsexualism and gender reassignment
Transgenderism
Transgenderism is a social movement seeking transgender rights and affirming transgender pride.-History:In her 1995 book Apartheid of Sex, biopolitical lawyer and writer Martine Rothblatt describes "transgenderism" as a grassroots social movement seeking transgender rights and affirming transgender...
. In interview, Bindel explains that Jeffreys argues that transsexual surgery "is an extension of the beauty industry offering cosmetic solutions to deeper rooted problems", that in a society without gender this would be unnecessary. She describes 'transgender' surgeries as 'mutilation', and forced feminization pornography as portraying a view of women as less powerful.
External links
- "Allowing Alex's sex change shows up a gender-biased Family Court" - Article by Jeffreys
- "Body modification as self-mutilation by proxy" - Article by Jeffreys
- "How Orgasm Politics has hijacked the women's movement" - Essay by Jeffreys
- "Trafficking in Women vs. Prostitution: A False Distinction" - Keynote address at Townsville International Women's Conference
- Critical review of Jeffreys's book Anticlimax
- Critical review of Jeffeys's book The Lesbian Heresy
- Critical review of Jeffrey's book The Idea of Prostitution
- Interview with The Guardian
- Jeffreys's official Melbourne University home page