Sheila Jeffreys

Sheila Jeffreys (born 1948) is a radical lesbian feminist scholar and political activist, known for her analysis of the history and politics of sexuality in Britain. She is Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Jeffreys's argument that the "sexual revolution" on men's terms contributed less to women's freedom than to their continued oppression has both commanded respect and attracted intense criticism. [cite book |author=SAMOIS |year=1987 |title=Coming to Power: Writings and Graphics on Lesbian S/M |publisher=Alyson Publications |location=Boston |id= ISBN 0-932870-28-7 |pages= pp. 88] [cite book |first=Carole S. |last=Vance |year=1992 |title=Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality |publisher=Pandora |location=London |id= ISBN 0 04 440867 6 |pages= pp. 302] [cite book |first=Harriett. |last=Gilbert |year=1993 |title=The Sexual Imagination from Acker to Zola: A Feminist Companion |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |id= ISBN 0-224-03535-5 |pages= pp. 133] [cite book |first=Rene. |last=Denfeld |year=1995 |title=The New Victorians: A Young Woman's Challenge to the Old Feminist Order |publisher=Warner Books |location=New York |id= ISBN 1-86373-789-8 |pages= pp. 35] Jeffreys argues that transsexuals reproduce oppressive gender roles and mutilate their bodies through sex reassignment surgery. Some of Jeffrey's other controversial positions include the ideas that lesbian culture has been negatively impacted by emulating the sexist influence of the gay male subculture of dominant/submissive sexuality, and that women suffering pain in pursuit of beauty is a form of submission to patriarchal sadism.

In 1979, Jeffreys helped write "Love Your Enemy? The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism", a pamphlet that offered a definition of a political lesbian: "We do think... that all feminists can and should be lesbians. Our definition of a political lesbian is a woman-identified woman who does not fuck men. It does not mean compulsory sexual activity with women." [ [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,6000,1519268,00.html Radical feminist Sheila Jeffreys talks to Julie Bindel | By genre | Guardian Unlimited Books ] ] Jeffreys was one of several contributors to "The sexual dynamics of history: men's power, women's resistance", an anthology of feminist writings about gender relations published in 1983 under the name "London Feminist History Group." Jeffreys wrote the last of this book's eleven chapters, "Sex reform and anti-feminism in the 1920s". [cite book |author=London Feminist History Group |year=1983 |title=The Sexual Dynamics of History: Men's power, women's resistance |publisher=Pluto Press |location=London |id= ISBN 0-86104-711-7 |pages= pp. vi]

Jeffreys's best known historical work is "The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality 1880-1930", published in 1985. It challenged the view that the sexual puritanism of Victorian England was displaced by the scientifically enlightened ideas of sexologists such as Sigmund Freud and Havelock Ellis. It examined late 19th century and early 20th century feminist campaigns against child abuse and prostitution, identifying the conservative social purity movement and the New Woman vision espoused by spokesmen for sexology as male backlash strategies. Jeffreys argued that these concepts were authoritarian and interpreted women's sexuality to conform to men's preferences. She traced later adaptations of these concepts made to fit changing social conditions: the New Woman was modified to accommodate wartime pro-natalist imperatives, and the sexually hedonistic Flapper Girl was invented to move women out of traditional male roles assumed by default during the World War I period, which had allowed them greater independence in paid work at home and at the front.

In "Anticlimax: A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution", published in 1990, Jeffreys criticised popular prescriptions for women's sexuality from the 1950s on in key texts including pornography, sex manuals and surveys, and best-selling novels. Having spent most of her life in the United Kingdom, Jeffreys moved to Australia in the early 1990s. Jeffreys has a forthcoming book, "The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade: The Industrial Vagina", to be published by Routledge in February 2009. [ [http://www.amazon.com/Political-Economy-Global-Sex-Trade/dp/0415412331/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219822663&sr=1-1 The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade ] ]

Bibliography

* Jeffreys, Sheila. "Anticlimax : a feminist perspective on the sexual revolution." Washington Square, N.Y. : New York University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8147-4179-7 (cloth). ISBN 0-8147-4180-0 (pbk.)
* Jeffreys, Sheila. "The lesbian heresy : a feminist perspective on the lesbian sexual revolution.". North Melbourne : Spinifex, 1993. ISBN 1-875559-17-5
* Jeffreys, Sheila. "The spinster and her enemies : feminism and sexuality, 1880-1930." [New ed.] North Melbourne : Spinifex Press, 1997. ISBN 1-875559-63-9
* Jeffreys, Sheila. "Unpacking queer politics : a lesbian feminist perspective." Cambridge : Polity ; Oxford : Blackwell, 2003. ISBN 0-7456-2837-0 (hbk.), ISBN 0-7456-2838-9 (pbk.)
* Jeffreys, Sheila. "Beauty and Misogyny : Harmful Cultural Practices in the West." East Sussex: Psychology Press, 2005. ISBN 0-415-35182-0
* Jeffreys, Sheila. "Beauty and misogyny : harmful cultural practices in the West" London : Routledge, c2005. ISBN 0-415-35183-9 (hbk.). ISBN 0-415-35182-0 (pbk.)

References

External links

* [http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=2162 "Allowing Alex's sex change shows up a gender-biased Family Court" - Article by Jeffreys]
* [http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=4312 "Body modification as self-mutilation by proxy" - Article by Jeffreys]
* [http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/s96orgasm.html "How Orgasm Politics has hijacked the women's movement" - Essay by Jeffreys]
* [http://www.nswp.org/pdf/JEFFREYS-WINTER.PDF "Trafficking in Women vs. Prostitution: A False Distinction" - Keynote address at Townsville International Women's Conference]
* [http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/1991/34/34p19.htm Critical review of Jeffreys's book Anticlimax]
* [http://glamourousrags.dymphna.net/reviewjeffreys.html Critical review of Jeffeys's book The Lesbian Heresy]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,,1519268,00.html Interview with The Guardian]
* [http://www.politics.unimelb.edu.au/aboutus/jeffreys.html Jeffreys's official Melbourne University home page]