Charmed star, Alyssa Milano has been a vocal and active supporter of the Women’s March (and corresponding activism), as well as the #MeToo movement.

Her most recent contribution to women’s rights activism launched with the hashtag #SexStrike.

In a tweet that has divided the internet, Milano called on all women to abstain from sex “until we get bodily autonomy back”, reports BuzzFeed.

You can see that here:

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

The call to action is a response to the recent attacks on women’s rights:

Just days before, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a controversial bill that would ban abortions in cases where a fetal heartbeat can be detected, and in Alabama, politicians feuded over a last-minute change to a bill that suddenly stripped exceptions for rape and incest from a near-total ban on abortion in the state.

The idea behind the strike has its origins in the history of feminism dating back to ancient Greece. Lysistrata, by the Greek playwright Aristophanes, sees women withholding sex from their husbands to sway political opinion.

In 1600, Iroquois women refused to engage in sex as a way to stop unregulated warfare. It worked, as they gained veto power concerning all future wars and paved the way for future feminist rebellions.

In 2009, Kenyan women enforced a sex ban until political infighting ceased. Within one week, there was a stable government. In the Philippines, a sex strike led to peace in a violence-plagued Mindanao Island village.

Unfortunately for Milano, a sex strike is unlikely to work in the United States.

“This strike may mean well and contain cheap ‘feel good’ reactions,” said one person. “But it pushes a sexist narrative that sex is something WE give to men as a form of currency. That is not empowering. At all.”

Another person said, “As a single ace woman, this is… what I do every day ANYWAY. Got any suggestions for things I can do that might actually be HELPFUL?”

The call for a #SexStrike also excludes queer women and implies that only women with a working uterus can participate.

This ignores the fact that the same clinics that provide safe abortions, also provide birth control, screenings, pap smears, and other reproductive health services to women who can’t afford private healthcare. Therefore, the attack on Planned Parenthood and the like not only removes a woman’s right to decide what she does with her uterus should she fall pregnant, but also denies her basic healthcare.

In other words, this is something that affects all women, not just the ones who can fall pregnant.

Milano also isn’t the first person to come up with an idea like this since Trump took office. Sex and relationship advice columnist Dan Savage – both in his column and on his podcast – asked people (of all genders) to stop sleeping with Trump supporters/ Republicans. His reasoning was simple – if you are queer or a woman, these people are coming for your rights. Don’t get involved with them in any way.

Savage’s campaign was so effective that he started getting hate mail from conservatives who suddenly found themselves in state of forced celibacy.

I’m with Savage on this one.

While Milano’s idea comes from a good place, it’s poorly thought out and likely to fail.

[source:buzzfeed]