About Female Sexual Subjectivity...

DILEMMAS OF DESIRE Teenage Girls Talk about Sexuality
By Deborah L. Tolman

(Chapter 1) GETTING BEYOND “IT JUST HAPPENED”:

“Jean Baker Miller, in Towards a New Psychology of Women (1976), identified sexual authenticity-that is, the ability to bring one’s own real feelings of sexual desire and sexual pleasure meaningfully into intimate relationships-as a key feature of women’s psychological health. From a psychological point of view, developing a strong sense of self and engaging in authentic, meaningful, and joyful intimate relationships requires an acknowledgment and acceptance of one’s own bodily feelings.” P.20

…”To learn how to bring all aspects of oneself into relationships, which can lead to a sense of connection, entitlement, and empowerment that can go beyond sexuality by including sexuality.” P.20

...In other words, not feeling sexual desire may put girls in danger and “at risk”. When a girl does not know what her own feelings are, when she disconnects the apprehending psychic part of herself from what is happening in her own body, she then becomes especially vulnerable to the power of others’ feelings as well as to what others say she does and does not want or feel.” P.21