For my last few years writing this column, I have kept my thoughts on politics and sex utterly separate. Also in the last few years, I have watched sex become more and more political; who is allowed to have it, who can have it safely, and who gets to choose when and how sex becomes a tool for reproduction versus pleasure. Yesterday, America voted to reinstate a president who has no problem talking about sex, especially as it pertains to women — “You can do anything … Grab them by the pussy” being one of the more iconic things Donald Trump has asserted concerning his thoughts on women as sexual beings. Amongst many other issues, the politics of sex was on our ballot this Tuesday, and America voted to deem sex (and sexual health) a political issue rather than a personal one. So, since our country has decided that politics has a place in sex, I plan – and would encourage uterus-havers across the country – to respond with the ultimate political protest: a Pussy Strike.
Now, don’t be fooled. My idea of a Pussy Strike does not necessarily mean that sex is off the table entirely. (Even though it is unfortunately looking like abstinence may become the only way to truly ensure one’s sexual safety). There will still be situations and people that will make sex viably safe and enjoyable. My Pussy Strike simply takes sex off the table for those whose votes reflected the idea that vagina-holders shouldn’t be allowed to control their own vaginas. Because while they can take away our access to sexual healthcare and peace of mind, the one thing that politics and an evil spray-tanned excuse of a man can’t take away is our decision to have sex at all.
If you are unlucky enough to have someone in your life who voted to revoke your sexual autonomy, and even more unlucky as to have that person be someone you engage in intercourse with, I urge you to exercise the ultimate autonomy and withhold the organs they voted to control. And this will be easy because you now have every logical argument to do so!
Survey the partners in your life — If you were to come into an unwanted pregnancy or sexual health emergency, need access to contraception, or find you require IVF to bear a child, would they be the type of partner to force you to come to term, risk your life, ask you to engage in unsafe sex, or abandon you in the face of fertility struggle? Everyone hopes that the answer to those questions is no, but if they voted for Donald Trump the answer is yes, regardless of whether that yes was passive or intentional… Even the ones who justified their Red vote with unrelated policy; I voted for his economic plan! Plenty of partners decided that standing by the women in their lives was more important than any other policy, and today those are the only partners who deserve to be getting laid.
49 percent of men aged 18 to 29 voted for Donald Trump. Those men do not deserve sexual access to the women they disrespected. So, if someone says no to your fundamental rights, say no to their access to your body. Go on Pussy Strike. Choose to be vulnerable with those who expressed their respect for the sanctity of your autonomy, and not with those who chose to be complicit in taking it away. 49 percent of young men voted for Trump, but 47 percent of men chose to stand by the women in their lives. Those who supported you on Tuesday will ultimately be the ones who support you if the worst comes to worst, and those who respect the sacredness of female anatomy are the only ones who deserve to reap the benefits of it.
Grace Elmore is a student at Cornell University. Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby runs during alternate Sex on Thursdays this semester. Comments can be sent to [email protected].
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