Levy makes two main arguments in her article about the furthering diverging of the feminist movement and sexual liberation - that the feminist movement is stereotyped as antisexual and thus outdated and that the progressive sexual liberation that started in the 1960s and 1970s has turned against women and feminism. She says that the two movements used to be united since women were calling for both sexual freedom and openness and political, social, and economic equality. Since the 1950s put a remarkably strong taboo on discussing sex and especially sexual pleasure for women, feminism initially incorporated sexual freedom because it was the break-out movement for women in all aspects - there was no inherent conflict between sex and recognition of women's intelligence. For example, she talks about how Anne Koedt declared that sex needs to be redefined to include women's wants and desires and how questionnaires revealed that the thought that "missionary position intercourse constituted universally satisfying sex (55)" was a myth. As this revelation (which I feel surprised only the men in society) was "a major blow to the male ego, not to mention the male penis (55)," feminism and sexual liberation had struck down stereotypes in the bedroom - that all men knew how to please their partner, that all women were pleased by their partner, and that men knew more about and thus were the authority on sexual matters.
However, this partnership that allowed women to become more open and vocal about their sexuality and sexual desires deteriorated when men jumped on the sexual liberation bandwagon. Once men started becoming more open about their sexuality and it was no longer unacceptable for them to "appreciate" women (though I'm sure that men clandestinely appreciated women beforehand), sexual liberation became all about men and women were demoted back into objects to be leered at and coveted. Once men were allowed to let their sexuality to run wild and not have to worry about being judged for it, they did not want their women to be free-thinking, "mysterious," or "difficult (58)" because those types of women refused to let themselves to be objectified and submit themselves to their partners both sexually and socially. Feminists were fighting "to be seen as real people, not sudsy bunnies. They wanted to show the world that women were 'difficult' and 'sophisticated,' not to mention formidable (58)." Intelligent women no longer fit into sexual liberation's agenda because sexual liberation was claimed by men who did not their authority to be challenged, who wanted their female partners to be faithful ornaments - something that intelligent, difficult women were not about to comply with. If a man sleep around, he is "the man," but if a woman does the same, she is filthy, dirty, ruined, a slut, and a whore - the ubiquitous double standard that all women and men know - came about from men claiming this sexual liberation movement. They wanted to be able to express their stereotypical voracious sexual appetites, but wanted to prevent women from doing the same thing; they wanted to control, but not be controlled in return. Therefore, men besmirched women's sexual freedom and intelligence as something that is bad in society because it is bad for them; if women are knowledgeable about their sexuality and can make independent decisions for themselves, that is a scary combination. Therefore, female intelligence and sexual liberation are at odds with each other, which explains why the feminist movement is now labeled antisexual. Feminism calls for the equality of women, including intellectual equality. Feminism also calls for women to stand up for themselves, to make their own decisions, to speak out on all fronts, including sexuality. Since sexual liberation is now a privilege only for men (although some would make the argument that women are more sexually liberated, they pay for it with the price of their reputation whereas men increase theirs by having more sexual exploits), feminism is calling out for the union of both female independence and sexuality, a combination that the now male-dominated sexual liberation movement is determined to prevent. To prevent this union from happening, they label feminism as antisexual because men decreed that women cannot both be intelligent and outspoken as well as sexual.
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