The women on social media like Twitter and Instagram are seemingly at war, with men, and with each other as well. A certain faction of the society is now calling for a sex strike and the hashtag #sexstrike is gaining momentum on social media.
It may have been started by Alyssa Milano and then carried forward by Bette Midler but given the June 24th SCOTUS ruling, overturning Roe V. Wade and wiping away 50 years of abortion rights, women feel something radical needs to be done.
Alyssa Milano Proposed #SexStrike Back In 2019
In 2019, “Charmed” actress Alyssa Milano set fire to Twitter, asking women to go on a sex strike to protest strict abortion bans passed by Republican-controlled legislatures.
At the time Milano had stated, “We need to understand how dire the situation is across the country. It’s (the tweet) reminding people that we have control over our own bodies and how we use them.”
Milano’s tweet came days after Georgia became the fourth state in the U.S. to ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks and sometimes too early for a woman to even realize that she is pregnant.
Milano also took a page from history, saying women have often used a sex strike as a tool to protest various issues and push for reform, and that’s what the women of today should also resort to.
This is Milano’s tweet that is now back on Twitter:
Our reproductive rights are being erased.
Until women have legal control over our own bodies we just cannot risk pregnancy.
JOIN ME by not having sex until we get bodily autonomy back.
I’m calling for a #SexStrike. Pass it on. pic.twitter.com/uOgN4FKwpg
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) May 11, 2019
Some women have reacted positively with tweets like:
I mapped out a sexless family getaway road trip to get around the 6 states that voted to ban abortion after 6 weeks. GA, OH, MS, KY, ND, AL. Safe travels. pic.twitter.com/SDZA9xgyeD
— Nancy Lee Grahn (@NancyLeeGrahn) May 11, 2019
I’m totally with you, @Alyssa_Milano, on not having sex. But the issue isn’t “reproductive rights.” The issue is reproductive responsibilities & fidelity. No one should have sex until they’re ready to embrace the privilege & responsibility of lifelong commitment & raising a child
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) May 11, 2019
But not everybody was a fan:
Please stop feeding the narrative that women are providers and men are consumers of sex. Bribing men for equal rights with access to our bodies is not how feminism works.
— feminist next door (@emrazz) May 11, 2019
There Is Genuine Anger Behind #SexStrike
The women propagating Sex Strike have valid reasons. SCOTUS has taken away national access to abortions for women, leaving America divided between the red and blue states. Many of the red states had trigger bans waiting for the Roe V. Wade decision. the moment it was overturned, the abortion bans slipped into place, leaving thousands of women worried about their future. Some of these states have put in a total ban, meaning even if the impregnation was forced through rape or incest, the victims will have to bear the babies. In some states, even the risk of death of the mother is not enough to allow an abortion.
In another astounding example of injustice, women in Texas who seek an abortion will now face a life sentence in prison. In stark contrast, a rapist would only serve a maximum of 20 years for his crime.
Twitter is raging over it all:
A man who bragged about sexual assault got to appoint a man who was credibly accused of rape to a court where a man who was credibly accused of sexual harassment was already serving, and THEY got to strip American women of a fundamental human right.
How fucked up is that?
— Jo 🌻 (@JoJoFromJerz) June 26, 2022
Clarence Thomas made it clear: right-wing extremists aren’t stopping at abortion. They’re coming after marriage equality, contraception, & anyone who doesn’t live & look like their idea of the ideal American. But the Supreme Court won’t get the last word—the American people will.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) June 26, 2022
my legs are CLOSED! 🚫 #SexStrike pic.twitter.com/B2ILNb83TG
— marilynn 💕 #FreeWendy (@dumbledore) June 26, 2022
Bette Midler Is Also Hopping Mad
Midler had supported Milano when she tweeted about the Sex Strike and continues to do so. After Texas also passed the abortion law, Midler had tweeted:
Here it is. pic.twitter.com/DzqNSZySmd
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) June 25, 2022
There were more ideas in reply to this tweet with one Twitter user saying, “I suggest all male babies are by law mandated to have a vasectomy to be reversed upon proof of marriage.”
And then there is this:
I served my country for 8 years in the USAF. Today I took my flag down. The freedom I served to defend, no longer applies to me, or my mothers, or my daughter, or your daughters.
— Living in a Peachtree dish (@ginalola) June 26, 2022
