Sex Panic!

This article is about the activist group. For general use, see Moral panic.

Sex Panic!, sometimes rendered SexPanic! or Sex Panic, was a sexual activism group founded in New York City in 1997.[1] The group characterized itself as a "pro-queer, pro-feminist, anti-racist direct action group" campaigning for sexual freedom in the age of AIDS.[2] It was founded to oppose both mainstream political measures to control sex, and elements within the gay community who advocated same-sex marriage and the restriction of public sexual culture as solutions to the HIV crisis.[3] The group has been depicted as a faction in a gay "culture war" of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.[4]

Sex Panic!'s actions and attitudes were criticized as immature[5] and even fanatical by its opponents,[6] but other commentators called the group a vital component of grassroots gay activism[7] that resisted gay marginalization and countered forced conformity to social norms.[8]

  1. ^ Kurth, Peter (8 December 1999). "The Trouble With Normal". Salon.com. Retrieved 16 February 2009.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference HGLR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Melancholia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rofes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kramer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Horowitz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Beyond was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rimmerman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).