Maintaining Your Sanity and Relationships While Fighting For Sexual Freedoms This Election Season

Over the past two weeks, the US has seen an assassination attempt and a new Democrat nominee. As the playing field shifts with the addition of Kamala Harris, and to a lesser degree JD Vance, there are so many questions about restrictions on sexual freedom. Will the Republicans will dig in further with Project 2025’s Christian-right restrictions? Do sex-positive folks need to be watchful of the Democratic Party shake-up?

Already fraught with controversies, court cases, questions over candidate competency, and an overall fear of public exhaustion, Liz Flynt warns in her Publisher’s Statement in the August issue of HUSTLER magazine that “Apathy Is Not an Option,” even though this election cycle is pushing the citizenry’s limits.

And we here at Kinkly wholeheartedly agree. So, we dug in to find out where each of the candidates stand and talked to experts about how to maintain our sanity, and our relationships, during election season.

Are any of the candidates supportive of sexual freedom?

Of course, we already know where the Republican candidates stand. Project 2025 has made that abundantly clear. And JD Vance, Trump's running mate, has been calling for a total ban on porn for years. In a 2021 interview with Crisis Magazine, Vance lumped porn and abortion into that boiling stewpot of ingredients that he claims erodes marriage and families. He has also proposed a ban on gender-affirming care for people under eighteen and opposed federal protection for gay or even interracial marriages.

So, how about Harris? Will she protect sexual freedom? Unfortunately, her track record shows we shouldn't get our hopes up.

While happy to see her take the top spot in the Democratic race, Alex Andrews, cofounder of Sex Workers Outreach Project USA (SWOP USA) makes a case that Kamala Harris put sex workers through “torture” when she was district attorney of San Francisco and attorney general of California.

“She helped the Oakland Police Department cover up a lot of the misdeeds that they were doing in regards to sex trafficking,” Andrews claims.

Also, while working as AG, the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for the U.S. presidency helped shut down Backpage, which Harris called the world’s top online brothel.

So, things looks a little bleak. But that doesn't mean we can stop fighting for sexual freedom. However, experts warn against taking that fight into your romantic and sexual relationships.

Don't let politics ruin your sex life this election season

Research shows that our political beliefs have a demonstrable impact on our sex lives. A Pew Research Center survey that examined voters based on gender, sexual orientation, and marital status also showed that romantic relationships tend to fall along political lines. This means every average citizen has to consider where their personal politics and personal life meet when they intersect.

But how can we possibly connect with our politically opposite partners during an election season where our sexual freedoms are so under threat?

Let’s face it, in a monogamous relationship or a simple friends-with-benefits canoodle, we all would like to get laid with as little fuss as possible; politics be damned. We can navigate these deep waters with some common sense and eye-on-the-prize solutions.

As sex therapist, writer, psychologist (and so much more) Dr. Lori Beth Bisbey advises, "Make time for play and sex each day, even if it is just a deep kiss. That will increase good feelings between you. And of course, no news or political talk in the bedroom."

In other words, fight the good fight to preserve sexual freedom outside the bedroom, not in it.