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First Wave Feminists Wanted Sexual Freedom & Orgasms

Fri, 04/17/2009 - 21:35
Submitted by Betty Dodson

It seemed timely to post this bit of feminist history on the economic and sexual freedom of women. In the 1880's there was a publication called "Liberty" that was feminists' Internet at the time. I love Google for the ease of information they provide FREE!

The principal writer on sexuality and marriage in the 1880's was Sarah E. Holmes, who usually used the pseudonym "Zelm." A radical feminist who went beyond even the standard anarchist call for abolition of institutional marriage, Holmes, like Voltairine de Cleyre in the next decade, argued against couples living together in arrangements where domestic responsibilities were based on traditional sex roles. Like any other anarchist feminists and unlike the mainstream feminists of her day, she also believed that true spontaneity in love required the option of sexual non-exclusivity.