The Right to Sex

A collection of six essays, subtitled Feminism in the Twenty-First Century; the title essay first appeared in the London Review of Books in 2018. 'The Conspiracy Against Men' examines false accusations of rape, how race and class shape whose accusations are believed, and the limits of #MeToo. 'Talking to My Students About Porn' asks how pornography shapes the sexual imagination of a generation raised online, and whether censorship is the answer. 'The Right to Sex' starts from the misogynist killer Elliot Rodger and argues that no one is entitled to sex, yet desire is not beyond political criticism, since it is shaped by race, body size, disability and gender. A coda develops this politics of desire. 'On Not Sleeping with Your Students' considers relationships between teachers and students. 'Sex, Carceralism, Capitalism' criticises feminism that relies on police and prisons, arguing that such solutions fall hardest on poor and racialised women.

It brings the classic arguments of radical and liberal feminism to current questions about consent, online pornography, incels and policing, and models how to hold competing intuitions honestly.