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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Coco Khan

Do sex strikes ever work? We ask an expert

Illustration of woman holding red sign reading Road closed
'Sex strikes are gold for gaining publicity.’ Illustration: Lalalimola/The Guardian

Last month, the German chapter of animal-rights charity Peta called on women to refrain from sex with “meat-eating men”. Sex strikes have their roots in an ancient Greek play, Lysistrata, where women from both sides of a war withhold sex in dissent – but as a modern tool of protest, do they work? I asked cultural critic and classicist Helen Morales.

I laughed when I heard about the Peta strike. I suppose you could say I’m on a lifelong sex strike from climate deniers and anti-abortionists. Isn’t that just called “not sleeping with people you don’t like”?
Or “lifelong marriage”.

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