I would say that the essence of any sexual politics, including feminism, is sexual activity itself (including reproduction). No, these aren't always the most visible aspect (e.g. electing Hillary president is not about having sex in any obvious way), but I think they are causal in creating the necessary conditions for sexual equality and liberation.

More specifically, sexual and reproductive liberation strike at the heart of the patriarchal norm. Without doing so, to speak of "equal opportunity" is to speak of a Jim Crow "separate but equal" apartheid.

Of course one consequence of this liberation is that it brings fear, rage and trembling to the hearts of fucking mormons and islamists and some christians and jews as well. Some Hindus too. I don't know about buddhists. The dangers of reactionary backlash are real and it will take commitment and sacrifice to see that this backlash is contained and doesn't get worse.

I didn't mention in the my last comment that the psychiatrist went on to say that women who claim that they're sexually liberating themselves as a part of the feminist movement have deep rooted psychological issues. Some women may have been molested as children, raped, had a poor relationship with their parents, or have been through severe psychological distress. She said that these type of women have very poor self esteem and lack self confidence.

I do not agree with what she said as a whole. I do believe that there are *some* women who sleep around because of the reasons she said. Then there are other women, like you, who are educated and secure and know what they're doing.

I believe that like you said, there are traditional gender roles that obviously, in my opinion, don't have much of a place in today's society. But we need to start educating teens on safe sex and not make it so taboo.

Anyway, great post!! I couldn't think of a better person to answer the question than you. =)