Sexual Politics, Sexual Panics

This special issue of differences provides spirited commentaries on the critical and political stakes of contemporary sexual politics in the United States. In a series of eight short keyword essays in the first half of the issue, contributors interrogate the implications and assumptions behind significant terms such as #metoo, consent, testimony, solidarity, pedophile, and trigger warning. The second half of the issue features in-depth essays that critique how universities have become spaces for pedagogy around affirmative consent; connect Larry Nassar's serial sexual assaults to feminist writing about the systemic nature of sexual violence; argue for the possibilities for black women’s sexual citizenship that exist within overlooked or dismissed domains; and analyze the continued relevance of feminist legal thinker Catharine MacKinnon. Together, the contributors demonstrate that now is the time to interrogate the politics of sex in the political present.

Contributors. Kadji Amin, Eva Cherniavsky, Andrea Long Chu, Jennifer Doyle, Joseph J. Fischel, Lynne Joyrich, Jennifer C. Nash, Emily Owens, Shoniqua Roach, Juana María Rodríguez, Mairead Sullivan, Samia Vasa, Rebecca Wanzo, Robyn Wiegman, Terrance Wooten