HOW SEX GOT BOUGHT AND SOLD: The commodification of the sexual revolution
When revolutions happen there is a moment when oppressed people make progress. But the dominant culture quickly recreates the oppression in a different form. These new forms of oppression are less obvious not because they are better or because we have made so much progress, but because we are too close to see this form of oppression clearly. It is the water we are swimming in.
Before women’s liberation and the sexual revolution women had to be pure and chaste. A woman was judged based on her behavior more than her appearance and this behavior had very rigid standards around sex. Basically, sex outside of a heterosexual marriage was not OK. The came feminism, birth control, women entering the workplace, abortion rights and the sexual revolution. Many women rejected their bras and vacuum cleaners for free love. The goal of the sexual revolution was bigger than just creating opportunities for women outside of heterosexual marriage. The deeper goal was creating more sexual freedom for women. There was a moment that we had it, but that moment was quickly capitalized on. Women’s sexual liberation was bought by corporate America and sold back to us not as more sexual freedom but as push-up bras and Girls Gone Wild.
The sexual revolution became a battleground fought, won and then commodified. What is being sold back to women is not actually sexuality. It is not how to have sex, relationships or orgasms. It in an IMAGE of what it is to be sexy. So while we are sold cleavage, white teeth, clear skin and perfect hair no one is asking us how our bodies feel and what we desire. Victoria’s Secret owns the image of female sexuality, instead of women owning their own sexuality. The image we get of a sexy woman from Victoria’s Secret is not designed to make us feel sexy. It is designed to make us feel not sexy enough. Advertisers work to creates a self-esteem void to fill with their product. So if according to Victoria’s Secret, we don’t meet their airbrushed image of sexy enough, we can maybe probably achieve that standard by purchasing their limited edition “Very Sexy SeductionTM” bras, or maybe their less limited edition “Very SexyTM” bras” or their “FabulousTM (now in lace) bras or their “London in LoveTM” lacie thong panties. And maybe you already know you are hot and you buy the “London in LoveTM” lacie thong pantie not out of need but out of joy and love of for how great lace feels on your beautiful butt. Which is the experience of a lot of women and is not only perfectly alright, but is, in fact, totally awesome. But thats not what Victoria’s Secret wants. Feeling empowered in one’s own body is not the image of sexiness being sold. It is not the product on the market.
We need another sexual revolution that takes back the image of a sexy woman. Not to create an alternative image of an empowered, sexy woman, but to create an alternative reality. Not based in image but based in practice. Not based in image, but based in bodies. We need a standard that is not what sex looks like, but what sex feels like. The feminists of the 1960’s and 70’s did us a great service by working for birth control, abortion, sex outside of marriage, queer rights and more personal choice for women then and today. We need to continue their important work and recreate an American culture where we may all experience sex as a powerful exchange of pleasure and desire rather than a disempowering exchange of image, products and money.
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