Issue 12

The Issue 12 Collective

The Sexuality Issue Collective: Hannah Alderfer, Sandra De Sando, Beth Jaker, Kay Kenny, Suzanne Kessler, Wendy McKenna, Marybeth Nelson, Effie M. Serlis, Sylvia Witts Vitale, Paula Webster, Leanna Wolfe

From the Issue 12 Collective

EDITORIAL

“Sexuality” is the title of this issue. It has taken us almost two years to produce, and along the way there have been many disagreements and difficulties, both intellectual and interpersonal. Most of these problems, we believe can be traced to one central issue which remained implicit for most of the two years — what is the meaning of the word “sexuality?” As individuals, we not only included different phenomena under the term, but we also approached the topic with varied theoretical and practical frameworks. Most important, the specific aspects of sexuality on which we wanted this issue of Heresies to focus did not always overlap.

If there can be said to have been a majority interest in the collective, it was in examining that aspect of sexulity which might be called “desire." Where do our desires come from? How do they manifest themselves in their infinite variations? And what, if anything, do they tell us about what it means to be a woman? The magazine we have produced reflects that majority view.

The question of desire is a highly personal one, although it must be contextualized within a larger social and theoretical framework. Many of the articles do speak to this. Yet any inquiry into desire raises the question: Of what concern are issues of erotic desire sexual satisfaction, and pleasure to women who, for economic or social reasons, must allow men access to their bodies in exchange for food, shelter and, indeed, staying alive? The question of relevance of definitions has probably been the most painful source
of conflict within our collective.

Additional sources of conflict about the meaning of "sexuality” included whether or not we were slanting the
perspective of the issue too much in the direction of “negative” aspects of sexuality, and what "negative” meant in regard to sexuality. We debated whether or not reproductive issues (menstruation, contraception, abortion, sterilization, pregnancy, and childbirth were essential to any discussion purporting to deal with female sexuality.

As is probably true of any group effort, none of us feels that this is the magazine we would have produced if we had the individual power to make the decisions. Some of us, however, are more satisfied with the final product than others. Our lack of consensus led
to our decision to have a number of editorial statements throughout the magazine. Each was written by one or two of us, but all of them reflect different facets of the complex task of analyzing the nature of women’s sexuality.

Just as we have chosen, in the end, to retain our separate voices, most of us believe it is neither possible nor desirable to try to speak to all women
about all things in 96 pages. We do hope, though, that this issue will stimulate you in all senses of that word
and arouse your desire to inquire into the meaning of sexuality for yourself and for feminism.