Quotessence
Home / Authors / Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys

Sheila Jeffreys Quotes

Political Scientist

Filter quotes by topic

AllFeminismRadical FeminismMisogynySexismWomen S LiberationWomen S RightsMale SexualityMalesMenFeministSex1960sDominanceFemininityMale DominanceMasculinityPornographyClassGenderHas Beens

Famous Sheila Jeffreys Quotes

“Male and female sexuality are very different, we are told, [...] None the less women are instructed to try to develop male sexual responses in order to be the 'ideal lover'. [...] So clearly sexual behaviour is not natural or inevitable. It can be learned where this serves the interests of male-dominant heterosexuality, and is only disconcertingly recalcitrant where such learning might serve women's interests.”

1960sFemale SexualitySexual RevolutionMale Sexuality
Book:Anticlimax: a feminist perspective on the sexual revolution
Create image

“But the increasing independence of women provided a direct threat to the maintenance of male power and privilege. That no such threat did materialise, it will be argued here, owes a great deal to the success of the sexual revolution. The sexual revolution was a counter-revolution and constituted a timely adjustment to the fine-tuning of the heterosexual institution. [...] . Sex was constructed to be the new binding ingredient in marriage which would compensate for the decreased efficiency of legal and economic constraints. The 1960s was a new time of crisis for male supremacy and a new adjustment had to be made.”

1960sSexologyFeminist CritiqueSex Revolution
Book:Anticlimax: a feminist perspective on the sexual revolution
Create image

“The sexual revolution completed the sexualisation of women. Both married and unmarried women were expected now to become experts in sexually servicing men, and to get over their own tastes and interests in order to become efficient at this task. Where once a large group of single women might have escaped the destiny of servicing men and concentrated upon their own life work, they were now conscripted into compulsory heterosexuality.”

1960sSexual RevolutionSingle WomanMarried WomanHeterossexuality
Book:Anticlimax: a feminist perspective on the sexual revolution
Create image