Synopsis
A set of essays examining desire, consent, power, and feminism, arguing sexual politics cannot be reduced to consent alone without ignoring how desire is shaped.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workWho we want and who we refuse is shaped by politics and culture, so no one is owed sex, yet our desires are not simply private and beyond all critique.
It reframes sex as a political domain shaped by power, complicating both the right to refuse and the supposed innocence of attraction.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume 1.
Reading note
Read it as exploratory essays that hold tensions open rather than as a single thesis; Srinivasan deliberately resists tidy conclusions.
Best paired with
Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume 1