AustLit

'In the early years of the second wave, two very different approaches to female sexuality and feminist politics were in circulation, Anne Koedt’s ‘The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm’ and Germaine Greer’s theory of cuntpower. While the clitoral orgasm became the ‘feminist orgasm’ during these years, Greer’s more open and genitally inclusive theory of cuntpower encouraged women to explore the variations of their own heterosexuality in the name of women’s and sexual liberation. This article will argue that Greer’s ideas about cuntpower are worth resurrecting and integrating into our understanding of second wave feminist sexual politics. It will also argue that Greer’s utilisation of the media allowed her ideas to influence ordinary women’s understanding of the potential of their sexuality, their right to orgasm and its connection to women’s liberation.' (Publication abstract)