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The Right to Sex: Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2022 Paperback – 26 May 2022

by Amia Srinivasan (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 392 ratings
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A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
BLACKWELL'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021

Essential lessons on the world we live in, from one of our greatest young thinkers - a guide to what everybody is talking about today

'Unparalleled and extraordinary . . . A bracing revivification of a crucial lineage in feminist writing' JIA TOLENTINO

'I believe Amia Srinivasan's work will change the world' KATHERINE RUNDELL

'Rigorously researched, but written with such spark and verve. The best non-fiction book I have read this year' PANDORA SYKES

-------------------------

How should we talk about sex?

It is a thing we have and also a thing we do; a supposedly private act laden with public meaning; a personal preference shaped by outside forces; a place where pleasure and ethics can pull wildly apart.

To grasp sex in all its complexity - its deep ambivalences, its relationship to gender, class, race and power - we need to move beyond 'yes and no', wanted and unwanted. We need to rethink sex as a political phenomenon.

Searching, trenchant and extraordinarily original, The Right to Sex is a landmark examination of the politics and ethics of sex in this world, animated by the hope of a different one.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2022
LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2022
LONGLISTED FOR THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE 2022

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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Bloomsbury Publishing
  4. Publication date
    26 May 2022
  5. Dimensions
    12.8 x 2.2 x 19.6 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1526612542
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1526612540
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Review

The best book I've read recently . Incredible -- Emily Ratajkowski

Quietly dazzling . A brilliant, rigorous book. [Srinivasan] coaxes our imaginations out of the well-worn grooves of the existing order ― New York Times

I've thoroughly audited why anyone should skip The Right to Sex, and I couldn't think of any reasons. Srinavasan's work is too interesting to be perfect. It's superb -- Naoise Dolan ― Irish Times

A daring feminist collection . . . Srinivasan accomplishes what she sets out to do: deliver a treatise both ambivalent and discomfiting, one which reveals the inadequacies in what we had imagined to be solutions ― Guardian

Sex has always been a minefield, but surely never more than now. In The Right to Sex, Srinivasan shows us mines I barely knew existed ― Sunday Times

To say that Srinivasan's challenging, complex, and - for some - controversial essays are a must-read is a colossal understatement ― DAZED

With her debut book, The Right to Sex, a 36-year-old Oxford don is dazzling everyone ― Observer

Srinivasan demonstrates how the feminist philosopher can emancipate our basic ethical concepts from the stranglehold of patriarchy, capitalism, and state racism - and this is a remarkable and promising effort -- Judith Butler, New Statesman

[This] ambitious, magisterial work stands out in the ongoing tide of dull, girl boss feminism arguing for personal empowerment over collective liberation . . . In a world of easy, one-dimensional answers, [Srinivasan] is unquestionably the real deal ― Vogue

Amia Srinivasan is the most brilliant feminist theorist writing today. Each essay in The Right to Sex is a masterpiece on its own; taken together, they show how learning to think carefully and precisely about the politics of desire is the preeminent ethical project of our time -- Merve Emre

The Right to Sex is absolutely extraordinary. Read it! -- Ash Sarkar

Laser-cut writing and a stunning intellect. If only every writer made this much beautiful sense -- Lisa Taddeo, bestselling author of 'Three Women'

Amia Srinivasan's magnificent first book announces itself as a classic -- Professor Samuel Moyn

Amia Srinivasan reveals both the material opportunities and dead-ends of a century-long conscious trajectory towards female empowerment. The Right to Sex reminds us of the foundational complexities to Women's Liberation ideas and why we are still grappling with them -- Sarah Schulman

Fascinating . . . Amia must be one of the leading thinkers around on the subject of sex and her work is both stimulating and challenging -- Helena Kennedy

Book Description

A landmark book on sexual politics from Amia Srinivasan, the leading young intellectual behind the viral London Review of Books essay 'Does anyone have the right to sex?'

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Publishing; 1st edition (26 May 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1526612542
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1526612540
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.8 x 2.2 x 19.6 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 392 ratings

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Amia Srinivasan

Amia Srinivasan

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4.4 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Hugh
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very good👍🏾
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 August 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Brilliant arguments and use of theories. Would recommend to everyone and anyone. Great base for feminist theory and striking lived experiences of all women (races, ages and sexual orientation).
    2 people found this helpful
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  • T
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 November 2022
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    Read this book for university. It was a great read and changed my perspective on a lot of current social philosophical issues. Highly recommend ☺️
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Chiara
    4.0 out of 5 stars Not your usual feminist essays
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2021
    *CONTENT WARNING: PORNOGRAPHY, ABUSE, RAPE, EXPLICIT LANGUAGE*

    Amia Srinivasan puts together a series of feminist essays about sex, declining the topic under different socio-political lenses.

    I’m not an activist but I would certainly describe myself as a feminist; Srinivasan made me question what kind of feminist I am, especially in relation to certain topics such as pornography and teacher-student relationships, where I thought there was no grey area and it was easy to define yourself as a feminist based on a yes or no approach.

    The Right to Sex won’t be a simple read, especially considering that might reveal some biases hidden inside even the most diehard feminist.
    No one’s perfect but everyone’s perfectible – that’s why we should read this book, and its sources, and their sources and so on, deeper and deeper inside feminism and all its meanings.

    The essays I appreciated the most are “Talking to My Students about Porn”, “The Right to Sex” and “On Sleeping with Your Students”, which I think are also the most challenging ones to read.

    A highly recommended read to start rethinking feminism and how we approach it in our day to day life. Some might not like how these essays will make you question yourself, but it’s good to doubt your beliefs sometimes, that’s how we grow.
    9 people found this helpful
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  • Sophia Smith Galer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and thought provoking
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 August 2021
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    Amia's take on the ethics of sex is spot on - nuanced and asking open-ended questions that leave you to make of it what you will with the information she presents. Really enjoyed reading this.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Rachel
    5.0 out of 5 stars Feminist icon
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 July 2022
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    Fantastic piece of literature. Would love to meet the author one day
    One person found this helpful
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  • Gonzalo Reversio
    3.0 out of 5 stars Decent essays on modern feminism
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 September 2021
    Verified Purchase
    This was alright to begin with. It has 5 long essays on modern feminism and critical race theory especially during covid and especially in the era of #metoo and Harvey weinatein. It reads fresh and intelligent and like its been written by an Oxford don (which amia is, all souls college). But the latter essays are way too political and boring. Still much better than jia tolentinos book which is just neurotic and self absorbed by comparison to this opus. The penultimate essay is also very annoying with numbered paragraphs and reads like a hatchet job and thinly veiled response to her critics. Worth a read. Its not long at under 200 pages.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • MG
    5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly brilliant
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 August 2021
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    Refreshingly in depth and intersectional analyses of different feminist perspectives on key issues, through a contemporary lens. Thoroughly enjoyable read for both well-read feminists and those new to feminist literature/theory
    5 people found this helpful
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  • PS
    2.0 out of 5 stars Confused
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 July 2022
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    I read this because Amia Srinivasan is said to be an analytical philosopher and she holds a prestigious All Souls chair. I was disappointed.

    Srinivasan notes (p. xiv) the distinction between sex and gender. Sex (male/female) is primarily-physical, biological, binary, determined at conception, and unchangeable. Gender (masculinity/femininity), i.e., the meanings ascribed to the two sexes, is mental, cultural, not binary but culturally and historically diverse, a matter of degree, and changeable.

    One might expect an analytical mind to try to disentangle sex and gender, using the wealth of biological, psychological and anthropological evidence that enables this. Instead, all that evidence is ignored, and sex and gender are conflated throughout.

    Every difference between the sexes is attributed to culture, to patriarchy. Repeatedly (e.g., pp 76-7, 83, 103, 108, 138, 143), Srinivasan asserts that some trait (e.g., male risk-taking and competitiveness, heterosexual desire) is not natural, but taught, with no supporting evidence and despite all the contrary evidence from evolutionary biology, psychology and anthroplogy.

    The conceptual confusion of sex and gender, and the denial of biology, reaches its nadir in the claim that men who identify with femininity miraculously become women ("women with penises"). Here (p. 89), Srinivasan explicitly conflates identity (what a person claims to be) with being (what they are). Donald Trump identifies as a very stable genius, so Srinivasan must think he is one.

    The fallacy occurs because she equivocates on the meaning of 'gender' - sliding from its being distinct from sex to using it as synonomous with sex. This fallacy is characteristic of gender-identity ideology.

    Denial of humans' mammalian nature means that this would-be radical shares a pre-Darwinian view of human nature with religious conservatives.

    Achieving equality between the sexes requires knowing the sources of the psychological differences between them. The pretence that all those differences are merely cultural artefacts dooms its advocates to failure.
    34 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Manav verma
    5.0 out of 5 stars Open your mind
    Reviewed in India on 14 November 2024
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    This book breaks the boundaries of taboos created by world....
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  • Dr.666
    1.0 out of 5 stars Does not talk about its title. Misleading premise.
    Reviewed in Australia on 22 January 2025
    Verified Purchase
    I expected a book about a feminist response to a proposed right to sex, as some in the men's community suggest.
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  • Schneider
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very good compilation of good texts
    Reviewed in Germany on 29 April 2023
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    The book compiles very good individual texts that link to each other without repeating arguments. Clearly a must-read on current feminist theory.
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  • Jaideep
    5.0 out of 5 stars Rewiring gender attitudes
    Reviewed in India on 27 June 2023
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    The analysis of the issue which perhaps is the biggest weakness of the worlds social and economic structure is thought provoking. It does change you and urges you to see what you can do.
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  • LACE
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great Set of Feminist Essays
    Reviewed in the United States on 13 June 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Several very interesting takes on the limitations of the feminist movement to achieve change for women that they really want. And there's also some acknowledgment that sometimes activists need to fight for things their constituents DON'T want (though while that works in the essays on sex, the author really lays into feminists for their failure to account for constituent desires in the economic front).

    There's a great essay on the limits of the concept of "consent" to govern sexual relationships, and her exposure of the failure of people in leadership roles (e.g. educators) to perform their jobs (e.g. teach) when they have sex with subordinates/students/employees is one of many reasons for this paradigm's failure. This sets the onus more on the male/instigator to avoid inappropriate sex, rather than on the [woman's] choice to engage in it.

    The author probes the concept of whether "the ends justify the means" in the context of feminist advocacy against prostitution & the real-life trauma it inflicts upon prostitutes, the question of a feminist movement that focuses on gender equity, but by ignoring the real-life struggles of women (clean water, food, shelter), partner joblessness that is often a primary cause of women's problems, lacks traction with the majority of women. The movement is decidedly out-of-touch.

    Yet, the author still acknowledges the need for this kind of feminist focus on equity. Her main point, I think, is that feminists should not be surprised that they do not have a majority of women's support. It is not illogical for most women to continue to adopt the "my brother-before-myself" plea while the living conditions of so many people is so bad. It is true that sexual harassment is often the least bad thing about a particular woman's job/life. I'm drawn to Gilman's 1895 poem, "The Socialist and the Suffragist." Perhaps this should be the cornerstone of Srinivasan's philosophy on feminist economic fights.
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