Agent of Desire Transforming perceptions of female sexuality

Where did the desire go? As the agency of female sexual desire has been repressed by patriarchy and stifled by objectification, where has it gone? From a Freudian perspective it must have been sublimated and gone somewhere. The media message is that what women really desire is shoes, handbags, jewelery, clothes - oh and chocolate. We are told women prefer shopping to sex. The overwhelming impression is that the stereotypical women's desires are for material objects, fetishised things - shiny magazines, satisfying packaging for cosmetics and perfume, accessories and of course shoes . They are often vaginal or phallic items with a sensual satisfaction derived; akin to the sado-masochist's pleasure at hearing the creak of leather. Think about the unscrewing of an expensive lipstick, the heel of a stiletto or an expensive clasp to open a handbag. Unlike the sado-masochist's fetish, the quasi-sexual experience women derive from them is unconscious because they are at such a far remove from the actual act of sex. However they are often the things that traditionally 'capture' the man, the 'alpha male' women are supposed to be vying for, so they do have an indirect sexual significance. If it is true what these irritating surveys say - that many women prefer acquiring these fetishised objects over sex - and what they like to buy are things to decorate their bodies to capture the alpha male, then female sexual desire has been sublimated into a desire for the paraphernalia of their own objectification. These fetishised objects are 'luxury items' often disproportionally expensive for what they are, and it's the fact that they are so expensive that really adds to the longing. With this in mind then, the passionate desire for a handbag seems quite deranged. Especially as the attractiveness of these items is often questionable: for example, the Louis Vuitton pattern with their mongram printed on the rank orangey-brown textured leather, looks as though they've put the pattern for the lining on the outside. Nonetheless, you see women (usually women with clothes that are bought from Primark) clutching these bags with pride, and stroking them sensually on tube trains - as though their little fetish is both a comfort and a thrill - two feelings usually associated with sex. And because of the disparity of pay between men and women, most women can only long to get the Louis Vuitton handbag with the Prada shoes, the Gucci belt, the make-up bag containing only Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent products and so forth, and so their options are to either depress themselves with unfulfilled longing or get a man to pay for them. Related Articles Is Dressing Up Such A Bad Thing? Female Role Models? Female Pleasure   It would not be too much of a stretch to infer, that when many men place one of these items in front of his partner as a gift, he gets a much more passionate hug and kiss, than he would by groping at her softer parts without this preamble. She may even succum to sex as a reward, even if she is not in the mood. He begins to notice this and frequently brings her 'gifts' to arouse her apparent, although plausibly faked, passion for him. The implication then, is that their sexual relationship begins to develop a punter/prostitute dynamic which is actually unsatisfactory for both partners on a deep level. To comment on this article, click here...

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