Sex Is Not the Enemy
2005 single by Garbage
"Sex Is Not the Enemy" is a song by American alternative rock band Garbage, released as the second single from their fourth album Bleed Like Me (2005) in the UK.
Written as a protest song, "Sex Is Not the Enemy" was influenced by the 2004 Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, which led to a censorship row across American media after singer Janet Jackson's bare breast was exposed by Justin Timberlake in what was later referred to as a "wardrobe malfunction". The lyrics incorporated themes that broached the Bush administrations efforts to roll-back gay rights, reproductive rights and in general, the civil liberties of the American people as well as the rise of the moral right wing in the United States.
"Sex Is Not the Enemy" was released as the second single from Bleed Like Me in the United Kingdom. In North America, album centre-piece "Bleed Like Me" had already followed up "Why Do You Love Me", while in Europe and Australia, second single status was given to non-conformance anthem "Run Baby Run". Garbage shot music videos for all three singles with Sophie Muller while on tour. To date, "Sex Is Not the Enemy" is Garbage's most recent UK Top 40 hit.
Song background
"Sex Is Not the Enemy" was written and recorded during sessions at the band's home base of Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, and along with "Right Between the Eyes", was one of the first songs developed for the fourth record. Over the course of 2003, Garbage had been struggling to find an agreed-upon direction for the album. Vocalist and primary lyricist Shirley Manson had also been struggling with writer's block, while recovering from surgery to remove a cyst on her vocal cords. In August, Manson wrote in her online journal that "Sex Is Not the Enemy" sounded "like old school Garbage".
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3958562. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2005, 2004 and 2003.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sex Is Not the Enemy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.