EDITORIAL

We asked ourselves "what colour is your sexuality ? What is your definition of sexuality ?"

   "For me sexuality is dark pink, it is tenderness and soft warmth..."

   "For me sexuality ranges from orange to red, like the sun which warms the skin like a caress, it is joy, it is life."

Each of us had different ideas and definitions of sexuality and we wondered if it was realistic or even necessary to find a common definition. We are not going to try!

In this bulletin we decided to include subjects which we thought were most relevant to women in different cultures and political trends. We wanted to emphasize more the positive and creative aspects of women's sexuality. But we found it impossible to exclude articles which speak of the sexual abuse and exploitation of women, because this is our reality and has an impact on how we regard our sexuality.

Some of the presentations discuss the different ways in which women's bodies are subject to the violence of being made an object: incest, pornography, polygamy, genital mutilation. One article covers a woman-controlled approach to prostitution. Other articles explore an expanding concept of sexuality: that caring for oneself, in both senses of the word "care for" — from eating properly to pampering oneself, loving and making love to oneself — is an indispensible part of women's sexuality. We also present pieces which confront the "silences" surrounding sexuality: older women, disabled women, lesbians and the role of power in our sexuality and sexual desires, our difficulty  In answering : what do you think, how do you feel, about sexuality ?

The sexual revolution has also, in more ways than one, contributed to this "silence" and these difficulties. The sexologists and other proponents of the sexual revolution, like the media, now try to prescribe "new methods", the "correct ways" of manipulating our bodies. In fact they try to manufacture the "new magical sexual body", capable of giving instant satisfaction ! This "liberation" is nothing but a new form of oppression since women's sexuality is still deprived of creativity,  eroticism, subjectivity and feelings.

In spite of the criticism against the sexual revolution we must admit that it served to create a space where a variety of sexual relations — both heterosexual and homosexual — became more or less tolerated and in some cultures even accepted.

This is not nearly enough. From our own experiences we realize how important it Is for women to keep their autonomy when striving for change.

This is no easy task. When we speak of feminist sexual politics, it is often misleading to see that Radical Feminists or Lesbian Separatists have a fairly well defined theory, but heterosexual feminists, the vast majority of feminists,lack this. Much of the discussion has centred on a critique of heterosexuality without attempting to reassess it from a clear feminist approach. We feel it is important for women to develop and grow in their relations to both men and women, to re-examine and re-define these relationships. We are all conditioned to play roles in this patriarchal society and the only way we can change it, is by actually creating something new, doing something  positive about it. In spite of all attempts, patriarchy has never succeeded in suffocating our creative energy. In the words of Audre Lorde :

   "The very word 'erotic' comes from the Greek word eros, the personification of love in all its aspects — born of Chaos, and personifying creative power and harmony. When I speak of the erotic, then, I speak of it as an assertion of the life-force of women ; of that creative energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives." (Audre Lorde, "The Erotic as Power")