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The Conversation
The Conversation
Zora Simic, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities, UNSW Sydney

Friday essay: a sex-positive feminist takes up the 'unfinished revolution' her mother began – but it's complicated

Feminism Roxane Gay Gerhard United States
The main photo is author Nora Willis Aronowitz, with her mother Ellen Willis pictured, in black & white, on right. (Left image is from Unsplash/Gabriel Nune.)

Bad Sex – like Bad Feminist (the title of the essay collection that launched Roxane Gay to literary stardom back in 2014) – is an enticing title for a book. Who hasn’t had bad sex at some time or other, including those of us who identify as feminists?

Bad sex, variously defined and experienced, continues to be depressingly common, even though sex “has never been more normalised, feminism has never been more popular” and “romantic love has never been more malleable”.

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