However, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that women relishing situationships are seldom shown to us either. Women being sexually free goes directly against the narrative we’ve been sold since girlhood: that our aim should be to find love. Ashley says: “When we are children, boys get to be loud, messy, and dirty when they are playing. Girls, however, are encouraged to not take up space and remain quiet, clean, and feminine without asking for anything. As we come of age, this translates to the relationships we aspire to. Boys are allowed to be experimental with sex, while girls need to be careful of their image and aim to be ‘girlfriend material’ rather than branding themselves sluts through the same experimental, explorative behaviour.” Women enjoying situationships is a feminist issue. As Ashley puts it, the wider culture informs what women are “told to aim for.” Situationships aren’t part of that goal and so we aren’t encouraged to go forth and enjoy them, on both a subconscious and a conscious level.
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