PAActor and activist Alyssa Milano has called for women to go on ‘sex strike’ until the state of Georgia reverses the recent anti-abortion law.
Georgia, after Ohio, Mississippi, Kentucky, Iowa and North Dakota, is the latest state to prohibit abortion once doctors can detect a heartbeat in the foetus.
The so-called ‘heartbeat bill’ means that women will not be able to have an abortion after around six weeks into their pregnancy. It’s one of the most restrictive abortion laws in America.
Milano, 46, took to Twitter to urge women to take control over their own bodies.
She wrote:
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.
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 tweet was widely, and quickly, shared – gaining over 20,000 likes and 19,000 replies in less than 24 hours.
Fellow activist and human rights attorney Kate Kelly responded:
Join us in helping cis men feel the physical consequences of our reproductive rights being systematically eliminated!
Join us in helping cis men feel the physical consequences of our reproductive rights being systematically eliminated! #SexStrike https://t.co/ep9VHmKVtB
— Kate Kelly (@Kate_Kelly_Esq) May 11, 2019
Others weren’t so receptive however, saying Milano’s idea of a ‘sex strike’ is actually just abstinence, and is ‘exactly what the conservatives wanted’.
Isn’t this called abstinence? And isn’t this exactly what conservatives wanted?
— Kelly Campagna (@warriorwoman91) May 11, 2019
Wait this is such a good idea. Don’t want to get pregnant… don’t have sex. It’s almost like it was……. designed that way?
— madeleine kohnen (@Mrs_maddikohnen) May 11, 2019
While another suggested that Milano’s actions may not be as helpful as she thinks:
Please stop feeding the narrative that women are providers and men are consumers of sex. Bribing men for equal rights with access to our bodies is not how feminism works.
Please stop feeding the narrative that women are providers and men are consumers of sex. Bribing men for equal rights with access to our bodies is not how feminism works.
— feminist next door (@emrazz) May 11, 2019
Another added that ‘sex strikes’ ‘reinforce the idea that our only value as women is our ability to provide gratification to men.’
This exactly. 1. Men are not the only ones who enjoy sex. 2. “Sex strikes” reinforce the idea that our only value as women is our ability to provide gratification to men.
— Hannah Dillon (@handillonmd) May 11, 2019
Before the bill was passed earlier this week, Milano wrote a letter, along with 50 other actors including Don Cheadle and Amy Schumer, promising to fight against the state if the new law was passed.
The actress is currently contractually obliged to be in the state of Georgia while she films Insatiable, but told BuzzFeed News she will fight for them to move location.
She said:
I have to be there for another month but you can be sure I will fight tooth and nail to move Insatiable to a state that will protect our rights. And if it doesn’t move to another state, I will not be able to return to the show if we are blessed with a third season. This is my leverage. I will use it for the betterment of society and our great country.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.