A panel discussion on sexual freedom at progressive activist conference Netroots Nation designed to help liberals “fight the right” instead promoted “pu**y power” and ignored politics altogether Thursday.
Netroots Nation is an annual conference for progressive bloggers and activists. The conference is being held in Providence, Rhode Island from June 7-10.
The Netroots discussion panel entitled “Liberate Your Ass: Why Sexual Freedom is the Key to Fighting the Right” seemed to go off message yesterday, as sexual revolution was the topic rather than a real, political discussion about fighting the right.
The panel consisted of five members that either represented the LGBT community, or were self-proclaimed ‘sex-experts.’
The general discussion of the panel was inherently hostile toward conservatives and “traditional” family values, but was not very political in nature.
There was, however, a typical leftist mentality when describing traditional religious practices, as described by panelist Favianna Rodriguez, a Latino empowerment artist. “I felt repressed by Catholicism,” Rodriguez told the audience. “I was told that I had to keep my legs closed and be some kind of virgin.”
Rodriguez said she was fighting for women’s power, and against both patriarchy and imperialism.
She also claimed to be promoting “p***y power” and described herself as a “pro-migrant artist.”
Panelist Kierra Johnson from Choice USA, a pro-choice, non-profit organization, said that “we [progressives] need to describe just what is good sex. As a progressive movement, we do not articulate that well.”
Panelist Elisabeth Fernandez-Kimmel, a member of the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance (a group dedicated to making sexual freedom a fundamental human right), began her time on the panel with the statement, “I love sluts and I love women.”
“Why aren’t sex workers’ rights associated with women’s rights?” Fernandez-Kimmel continued. “It is easy to s**t on them and scoot them under the rug.”
Rodriguez also alluded to the existence of not only a war on women, but also a war on women of color.
Panelist Charlie Glickman, editor of Good Vibrations Magazine (an online, consumer reports magazine on sex toys and other sexual products) said that abstinence programs are a sham, and that abstinence taught in schools was both “lies” and “propaganda.”
The off message, off-putting panel discussion had no shortage of foul language that served to undermine any message Netroots was trying to convey.
