Some ABCs of feminist sex education (in light of the sexuality critique of Legal feminism).

• Author: McClain, Linda C.
• Position: Sexuality and the Law

This Essay has two aims. First, it offers some guiding principles, or "ABCs," for a feminist vision of sex education. Second, in keeping with this symposium's topic, "Sexuality and the Law," the Essay evaluates that feminist project in light of what the I call "the sexuality critique" of legal feminism--a line of criticism leveled by feminist and post-feminist scholars against feminist legal theorists' work on sexuality. The ABCs advanced here reflect a liberal feminist approach to sex education, which stresses the three themes of fostering capacity, equality, and responsibility. Such an approach, the Essay maintains, is better suited for facilitating the development of young women's and men's capacities for responsible sexual self-government than the abstinence-until-marriage model of sex education ("abstinence-only") embraced in the federal welfare law codified as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. (1) "Abstinence-only" sex education reflects a conservative sexual economy. As put into practice in various curricula funded by the federal government, such sex education is laden with gender role stereotypes about "his" and "her" sexuality that reinforce women's role as sexual gatekeepers. (2)

This Essay, given the constraints of space, presents a condensed account of a basic liberal feminist framework for sex education and contrasts such a framework with the conservative sexual economy of "abstinence-only" sex education. (3) For this symposium, I will address the following issue: what implications for sex education--and in particular, feminist frameworks for sex education--grow out of the sexuality critique? The gist of this critique, leveled by feminist and post-feminist scholars against feminist legal work on sexuality, is that feminist legal theory analyzes sexuality as a site of subordination of and harm to women. As a consequence, such theory calls for and embraces legal regulation, protection, and remedy aimed at such harm, but abdicates to others the task of developing a positive account of sexuality.

Situating her critique as one lodged within legal feminism, Katherine Franke charges that legal feminists have failed to "theorize 'yes,'" and instead have reduced sexuality either to dependency (that is, reproduction, mothering, and caregiving) or to danger (that is, sexual subordination and sexual harm). (4)

Stepping outside of feminism, Janet Halley, in a series of writings, argues that it would be beneficial to those doing "left pro-sex intellectual and political work," including feminists, to "Take a Break from Feminism." (5) Like Franke, Halley divides legal feminists into those who focus on "reproduction, care work, work in the paid economy, and related matters," and those who concern themselves with "male power and female subordination in sexuality." (6) Feminism's commitment to viewing questions of sexuality through the lens of subordination theory, Halley charges, leads it to find in every issue, however complex, a basic subordination dynamic in which M > F, with men always powerful and women always powerless. (7) But even as feminism has become "governance feminism," or, in other words, has become instantiated in laws addressing such matters as sexual harassment, sexual violence, and the like, Halley argues that feminism fails to admit its "will to power" or to recognize the costs that "governance feminism" imposes on men and other groups. (8)

This line of critique further contends that feminist legal theory has failed to generate positive accounts of sexuality. Instead, a cluster of intellectual and political movements, including "Queer Theory" in particular, have challenged the subordination paradigm and taken up this positive task left undone by feminism. (9) Franke and Halley, for example, claim that legal feminists seek to sanitize or feminize sex by sharply separating the categories of "desire" and "danger," thus leaching out of sexual desire inherent elements of risk and jeopardy. (10) Moreover, Halley argues that, to the extent legal feminists do offer an affirmative vision of sexuality, it is of a problematic "feminine" sexuality. (11)

In an earlier exchange published in this Journal, Gender, Sexuality, and Power: Is Feminist Theory Enough?, Professor Halley engaged in a thought-provoking dialogue with Professors Brenda Cossman, Dan Danielson, and Tracy Higgins over the question of whether feminism was "enough," in the sense of offering an adequate tool kit to assess matters of gender, power, and sexuality. (12) In this Essay, I draw on the dialogical method, proposed by Cossman, of a "feminism after." This is a method of feminist legal theory that is enriched by engaging with forms of analysis, such as "Queer Theory" or Halley's "Taking A Break from Feminism," that do not share feminism's unrelenting focus on gender and the male/female dynamic. However, "feminism after" such a critique, Cossman contends, still has a distinct and valuable perspective to offer by training a gender lens on matters of sexuality. (13) Thus, in this Essay, I consider how analyses of intimacy and sexuality, arising outside of legal feminism, would critique and enrich my own analysis. I also ask whether these approaches enrich my own critique of the "abstinence-only" model favored by the federal government.

This Essay considers two texts; the first is Intimacy, an anthology edited by Lauren Berlant, (14) which reflects a variety of critical perspectives, including Queer Theory. I note some striking convergences and divergences between the sharp critique, in several essays in that anthology, of the institutions of intimacy and of the human toll exacted by channeling men and women into marriage in the service of orderly social reproduction and the vision of marriage apparent in the conservative sexual economy. I also raise some questions about how a liberal feminist approach to social reproduction might mediate between these two stark positions. I then engage with Halley's recently published review of Robin West's book Caring for Justice, in which Halley critiques West's articulation of a "redemptive" "feminine" sexuality. (15) I choose this particular writing by Halley because I have also reviewed West's book (16) and can therefore readily compare my liberal feminist critique of West's vision of sexuality with that of Halley. I defend the gender lens of my own approach, noting some problematic aspects of Halley's critique, but also conclude that Halley's analysis fruitfully opens avenues for further inquiry about sexuality and sex education. I conclude by raising some questions (for a more complete airing at the live symposium) about how to address the challenge of developing feminist conceptions of the place of intimacy, sexuality, and family that may compete with the vision manifest in the conservative sexual economy.

1. CONSERVATIVE VERSUS FEMINIST ABCS OF SEX EDUCATION

   The "abstinence-until-marriage" model of sex education reflects the triumph of a conservative sexual economy: a cluster of ideas about the proper arrangement of sexuality that seeks to revive and fortify what are claimed to be traditional moral values and social norms. (17) On this view, young people should be sexually abstinent until marriage. Courtship, rather than dating, is the pathway to marriage. A critical component of the model is that girls and women are gatekeepers; they are responsible for the proper regulation of boys' and men's sexuality. In this vision, men and women differ not only in sexual desire, but in their capacities, needs, and ambitions.

   In the conservative sexual economy, marriage is the only proper site for the expression of sexuality. Heterosexual sex within marriage is the only normatively acceptable form of sex. Marriage is a necessary institution for channeling sexual drives (especially those of men) into the constructive social forms of monogamy, reproduction, and parenting.

   One conspicuous embodiment of the conservative sexual economy is the "Abstinence Education" provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (the "PRWORA"). Congress approved federal funding for sex education programs with an "exclusive purpose" of teaching abstinence. Among the messages the programs must teach are: "abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage [i]s the expected standard for all school age children," "a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity," "sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects," and "bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child's parents, and society." (18)

   The governmental embrace of the conservative sexual economy as the expected national standard for all citizens conflicts with important public values of sex equality, equal concern and respect for all members of society (including gay men and lesbians), and respect for reasonable moral pluralism. Viewing women as gatekeepers is in tension with viewing them as responsible, self-governing persons. This vision of personal responsibility places upon women the responsibility for men's behavior and men's sexuality, even as it insults men's moral capacity and relieves them of responsibility.

   In my recent book, The Place of Families: Fostering Capacity, Equality, and Responsibility, I critique this governmental embrace of the conservative sexual economy and offer an alternative liberal feminist approach to sex education. (19) Such an approach builds on the basic premises of "abstinence-plus" or comprehensive sex education by combining the provision of basic information about sexuality and contraception with clear messages about abstaining from sexual activity and deferring pregnancy and childrearing until one is emotionally, socially, and financially prepared. (20) But...