on sex negativity

roachpatrol:

boy i’m tired of seeing a constant refrain on ‘progressive’ posts that says like ‘well as long as it isn’t sexualized’, as if anything sexual is obviously bad. cross-dressing’s okay if it isn’t sexualized. queer characters are okay if they aren’t sexualized. dancing is okay if it isn’t sexualized. murder is okay if it isn’t sexualized! 

and people keep using the term sexualized as if it’s just the same thing as objectified, as if being sexy makes you less human. because that’s what we’re all taught, right? sluts aren’t people. pervs aren’t people. but it’s bullshit. 

sexuality is not an inherently dirty, damaging, wrong, toxic, stupid, or frivolous aspect of human experience and human expression. coercion, violence, and dehumanization are what hurt people, and they hurt people in plenty of nonsexual ways too. treating people like things— seeing them only as objects to gratify you— is wrong no matter what. 

sex is a crucial element in a lot of people’s lives. sexuality is a big part of a lot of people’s identities. it’s not something we can ignore or devalue. if we continue to insist that sex is inherently bad and damaging, we’re going to continue seeing sexual people as bad and damaged, and that is antithetical to any truly progressive cause.