The Demonisation of the Sexually Liberated Woman: Part 1.

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As mentioned on our Instagram, the topic ‘the demonisation of sexually liberated women’ is going to be split into two posts, written by both Maria and myself. We chose to write these pieces as we have both recently read books which have centred around the topic, with Maria reading about the victims of Jack the Ripper and myself reading a fictional story on sex workers on the tourism industry in Jamaica. What inspired us to write these pieces was that both books presented the depth that each of the women had to them outside of their work despite society only seeing them as sex workers. Both books are focused on different eras yet highlight the same issue of implied impurity when a woman embraces her sexuality.

The year 2020 can be considered the height of women proudly owning their sexuality. With platforms such as OnlyFans and songs like WAP trending throughout the year, we now have more women owning their sexuality and sexual preferences unapologetically than ever before and it is beautiful to see. We have artists such as Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion creating music that their male counterparts have done so for years and they have a huge following because of it causing their song to hit number one on charts worldwide. We also see women proudly using their femininity and sexuality through platforms, such as OnlyFans, to live and with the ability to earn much more than most minimum wage jobs. With a platform like this women, and men, are able to safely participate in sex work with the ability to create content in an environment that suits them.

Yet amongst all the positivity of sexual liberation that 2020 has offered thus far. there are still many who will demonise a woman for embracing her own sexuality for financial gain or for her own pleasure. We are still in a time where people are still concerned with how many people a woman has had sexual encounters with, and whether or not she is deserving of love and respect depending on the number she provides.

In the novel Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis Benn the protagonist, Margot, is living in a world ruled by classism, colourism, homophobia, and misogyny. At work she is not taken seriously for management positions outside of her sex work despite her being more than capable, and at home her family have no idea how she provides for them. The issue seems to be one surrounding respectability. At home she doesn’t tell her family the true nature of her work at the hotel to not bring shame on her family. Then at work, despite having business models and plans to ensure the hotels success she is not taken seriously because she is also a sex worker. The worst part of Margot’s situation is when she is disowned by her younger sister, Thandi, when she finds out that she used sex work to pay for her schooling and to provide for her and their mother.

The novel had the similarities of a cautionary tale, where the author was potentially warning women on the problems with embracing one’s sexuality. However, the main issue with this is why does sexuality only become problematic once it is a female embracing her sexuality? And why are these issues not prevalent when a man embraces his sexuality?

When looking at different histories on female sexual liberation, these ideas mainly resonate with the Victorian period which had the double standard that men needed sex, while women had zero sexual desire and only had sex to please their husbands. When looking at the current issues with the demonisation of sexually liberated women, it becomes obvious that the desire to keep women ‘conservative’ and ‘pure’ stem from these same patriarchal Victorian views. This can be stated as before these times sexual liberation was encouraged throughout the world and was seen in religion, spirituality, and every aspect of life. An example of this is in Ancient Greece, where sex workers were seen as a necessity in society with some being paid for both intellectual and physical pleasure. However, it is also important to remember not to generalise these rigid Victorian rules. Despite them being prevalent and far reaching due to colonialism, other parts of the world, such as France, had more liberal attitudes towards sex and relationships.

So when we look at our current society, where women who are sexually liberated are told that they ‘belong to the streets’ or that they are ‘easy’ we are knowingly conforming to centuries old misogyny that disregards individualism and freedom. In addition to this, we then enforce the idea that the only sexual happiness a woman can have is through patriarchal enforced monogamy and that anything besides that is wrong. This is problematic as sexuality is a wide spectrum so monogamy will not work in every single circumstance.

Baring all this in mind, maybe it is time to start a new narrative... one where women are free to safely and happily do what they please with their bodies and where people mind their own business.

Thank you all for reading and remember you are valid and deserving of love regardless if you are monogamous, polyamorous, asexual, and everything in between.

Stay safe,

Miah