A new feminine self-conception is prerequisite to any healthy sexual regulation

Evidence

The formation of a new feminine personality is the most important question of an ethical and civil order connected with the sexual question. Until women can attain not only a genuine independence in relation to men but also a new way of conceiving themselves and their role in sexual relations, the sexual question will remain full of unhealthy characteristics and caution must be exercised in proposals for new legislation. Every crisis brought about by unilateral coercion in the sexual field unleashes a “romantic” reaction which could be aggravated by the abolition of organised legal prostitution. All these factors make any form of regulation of sex and any attempt to create a new sexual ethic suited to the new methods of production and work extremely complicated and difficult. However, it is still necessary to attempt this regulation and to attempt to create a new ethic. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1101

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Female vaginal response is psychophysiological and requires elaborated nervous-system preparation that may never form — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 946