#SexStrike
Submission 16,070
Overview
#SexStrike is a campaign started by actress Alyssa Milano in protest of Georgia's recent passing of restrictive abortion laws. The campaign, inspired by the ancient Greek play Lysistrata, is to abstain from sex until women "get bodily autonomy back." However, the campaign was criticized by women and the LGBTQ+ community who felt it was misguided.
Background
On May 7th, Georgia governor Brian Kemp signed a bill that made abortion illegal after the sixth week of pregnancy, a time when many women are unaware they're even pregnant.[1] The bill will go into effect on January 1st, 2020. Some have theorized that the bill, which recognizes unborn fetuses as "a class of living, distinct persons," will potentially lead to criminal charges and potentially life in prison against women who receive abortions after six weeks.[2] In response, actress Alyssa Milano called for women to abstain from engaging in sex in protest of the law, partially on the grounds such a law will make it too unsafe to risk pregnancy.[3] Milano's campaign echoes the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, in which the title character encourages women to stop having sex with their husbands in order to get the warrior husbands to end the Peloponnesian War.[4]
Developments
Women were quick to criticize the idea of using sex as a bargaining chip. Author Kristi Coulter criticized the campaign to this effect, gaining over 600 retweets and 7,500 likes (shown below, left). User @Charalanahzard made a similar argument, gaining over 1,200 likes (shown below, right).
The campaign also unintentionally gained support from anti-abortion activists who agreed that women should stop having sex to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Examples of this include tweets by @La_Coqui who called a sex strike "a great idea" as she engaged in one before she got married (shown below, left). User @Msalgado_01 tweeted that Milano was embracing the christian worldview (shown below, right).
Others made jokes about the strike. Twitter user @jeremysmiles tweeted a still from I Think You Should Leave envisioning "day 2 of the sex strike" (shown below, left). User @mechapoetic joked that some people were too good at having sex and having it all the time, gaining over 1,200 retweets (shown below, right).
Search Interest
External Reerences
[1] CNN – Georgia's governor signs a controversial abortion bill into law
[2] Slate – Georgia Just Criminalized Abortion. Women Who Terminate Their Pregnancies Would Receive Life in Prison.
[3] Twitter – Alyssa Milano
[4] Ancient Literature – Lysistrata
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