Since the 1980s, many feminists embraced sex-positivity, arguing that equal sexual rights and the rejection of gender-specific sexual stigma would be the next step towards a less inequal society.
In doing so, they scared off many older and sex-negative radical feminists, who felt that even home-made ography between loving partners, or consentual prostitution as a way to provide sexual rights to the disabled, inherently objectified and dehumanized all women.
The debate spiraled into what became known as the "feminist sex wars". From the 1990s on, sex-positivity was much more accepted among feminists, showing that they had won the "war".
Today ā while ultimately victorious ā sex-positivity has lost some of its initial steam, instead living on through books (such as The Ethical ) and through the continued efforts against both conservative sexual repression and the blatant double standard of shaming sexually active women (all the while labeling sexually active men "studs").
Sex-positivity still comes under fire from feminist authors such as Ariel Levy and Pamela Paul, who see the movement as "selling out to the sexual desires of men".
Others still endorse sex-positivity, but believe that it is just one component to the overall struggle for abortion, LGBT rights, and equality in the workplace.