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Quote by Wendy McElroy

Work

XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography

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Author

Wendy McElroy
Wendy McElroy

Wendy McElroy is an active writer and activist in the fields of libertarianism and feminism. Born in 1951, she is known for her steadfast support of individual freedom and women's liberation. Her works cover a range of subjects, including political philosophy, economics, and gender studies. more

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“For over a decade, I have defended the right of women to consume pornography and to be involved in its production. In 1984, when the Los Angeles City Council first debated whether or not to pass an anti-pornography ordinance, I was one of two people -and the only woman-who stood up and went on record against the measure. I argued that the right to work in pornography was a direct extension of the principle "A woman's body, a woman's right.”

“As recently as the fifties, respectable women were given the sexual choice of marriage or celibacy. Anything else meant ostracism. Women who demanded pleasure in sex were condemned as "nymphomaniacs," much as they are pitied today as "victims of male culture" by anti-porn feminists.”

“And that quiet---with her lips parted for words that wouldn't come, in the soft darkness of woods that were steadily growing blacker, sharper, stretching the space between them until it became hard to make out one another's faces---that quiet was never quite recovered between them. In a way, for years afterward, they never left that forest night when Jean-Louise lay in the grass and Junior learned his back against a tree, and pulled away.”