“Laser-cut writing and a stunning intellect. If only every writer made this much beautiful sense.” ―Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women “Amia Srinivasan is an unparalleled and extraordinary writer―no one X-rays an argument, a desire, a contradiction, a defense mechanism quite like her. In stripping the new politics of sex and power down to its fundamental and sometimes clashing principles, The Right to Sex is a bracing revivification of a crucial lineage in feminist writing: Srinivasan is daring, compassionate, and in relentless search of a new frame.” ―Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self Delusion Thrilling, sharp, and deeply humane, the philosopher Amia Srinivasan’s The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century upends the way we discuss―or avoid discussing―the problems and politics of sex. How should we think about sex? It is a thing we have and also a thing we do, a supposedly private act laden with public meaning, a personal preference shaped by outside forces, a place where pleasure and ethics can pull wildly apart. How should we talk about sex? Since #MeToo, many have fixed on consent as the key framework for achieving sexual justice. Yet consent is a blunt tool. To grasp sex in all its complexity―its deep ambivalences, its relationship to gender, class, race, and power―we need to move beyond yes and no, wanted and unwanted. We do not know the future of sex―but perhaps we could imagine it. Amia Srinivasan’s stunning debut helps us do just that. She traces the meaning of sex in our world, animated by the hope for a different world. She reaches back into an older feminist tradition that was unafraid to think of sex as a political phenomenon. She discusses a range of fraught relationships―between discrimination and preference, pornography and freedom, rape and racial injustice, punishment and accountability, students and teachers, pleasure and power, capitalism and liberation. The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century is a provocation and a promise, transforming many of our most urgent political debates and asking what it might mean to be free. A SUNDAY TIMES (UK) BESTSELLER “Srinivasan refuses to resort to straw men; she will lay out even the most specious argument clearly and carefully, demonstrating its emotional power, even if her ultimate intention is to dismantle it . . . For a book by a philosopher that makes a vibrant case for theory, The Right to Sex keeps returning to the reality of lived experience.“ ―Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times “This new essay collection takes on pornography, power, desire and more, drawing on earlier feminist tradition and connecting questions of freedom to class, race and disability.” ―Joumana Khatib, The New York Times Book Review (Most Anticipated) “[Srinivasan] shows us how to let philosophical arguments clarify debates within popular culture, and how to read popular culture as a way of wrestling with moral ­dilemmas related to sex, feminism, equality, and freedom." ―Judith Butler, New Statesman "Each individual essay in this collection is complex . . . On any given page, Srinivasan will leave you feeling convinced she has found a way out, only to pull the rug out from under you; whenever she says “but,” one wants to duck." ―Jennifer Wilson, The New Republic “Persuasive and daring . . . Srinivasan does not shy away from the difficult tensions that [her thesis] throws into relief.” ―Becca Rothfeld, Boston Review “ The Right to Sex is a truly stunning debut, sure to provoke, unmoor, and inspire many.” ―Audrey Clare Farley, Washington Independent Review of Books “The emergence of a writer like Srinivasan, who asks feminists to go further, is an enormous gift to the discourse.” ―Jessica Ferri, The Los Angeles Times “A daring feminist collection considers pornography, desire and the boundaries within student-teacher relationships . . . Compelling . . . The book effectively highlights how sexual desire―who we are and are not attracted to―is political and affected.” ―Rafia Zakaria, The Guardian (UK) “The philosopher’s debut, The Right to Sex , deftly unpacks the politics of sexual desire, the nuances of the call to ‘believe women’, and fulfills our need for a deeper interrogation of modern feminism . . . [An] urgent call for an intersectional approach to feminism, which is the only way to build an equal society for women . . . Extraordinary.” ―Brit Dawson, Dazed “To accompany Srinivasan on her thought-work into unpacking, questioning, considering, contextualizing, and deepening contemporary feminist issues is to be stretched into new shapes that the world needs. Srinivasan’s powerful thinking is matched by her powerful language, often striking like an electric revelation at the core of an issue. [ The Right to Sex ] is required reading.” ―Emily Dziuban, Booklist (starred review) “This exceptionally well-written collection is among the most insightful works yet about sex in m