SEX

By Jeremy Sabitt

            Sex, in its barest form, free of the myth surrounding it, involves two people of different genders performing an act of procreation. It should be noted that the act is considered natural, as the human mind innately seeks to maintain life and the human race and to advance the species. Therefore, still in its barest form, sex is an unavoidable must in order to continue humanity or mankind and further progress the species. Everyone knows to some extent of the story of Adam and Eve and the natural process of procreating human life by means of two humans performing an act of the highest intimacy. However, this natural relationship between the genders has become the basis or purpose of everyday life in the modern, civilized world. Sex has become the ultimate pursuit, the goal of going out, the goal of being successful, the goal of looking good. This obsession with sex has been instilled into the human mind by corporations and culture makers, the bourgeoisie industry makers that cultivate the lust for more products, and thusly more sex, through the weakening of one’s self-image. Fortunately, there lies salvation for the soul of the imperfect being in sex.

            Thusly, as one is toyed with by the bourgeoisie’s culture of sex, sex becomes the fulfillment of one’s self-image; sex becomes the commodity that truly makes one happy, as happiness through sex is portrayed consistently through popular culture built by music, fashion, and the business of looking good, for instance hair or shaving products, deodorants and other fragrances, and make-up products, to name a few. To put it simply, “sex sells.” Sex can be bought and sold literally, or more subtly, through “looking good” and acting as a cultural puppet to the business of sex. Sex can be used as a tool to manipulate others and elevate oneself, or it can be as casual and pleasuring as one desires, but sex is always the result of fulfilling one’s image through cultural means, as bourgeoisie industry makers have developed culture to perfect the imperfect being through products that will render them more desirable, and sex becomes the sign of one’s fulfillment of self-image and path to the deepest kind of happiness a human could achieve.

As a consequence of the bourgeoisie’s selling of sex, sex becomes inescapable, an everyday commodity that can be seen nearly everywhere one looks and is inherent at every level of society, from advertisements and cultural influences inherent within people of society, caught in the bourgeoisie’s game of selling sex, to everyday interactions between people outside of the bourgeoisie. At some level, the obsession with sex dictates thoughts and behaviors and entire lifestyles. There are products sold directly for the performing of sexual acts, products for the sake of looking good, and products that may not have any link to the direct act of sex, but nonetheless symbols of sex have been applied to industries such as the alcohol industry, the music industry, the car industry and the food industry. All industry is prone to sexualize the experience of purchasing their goods with the insinuation that purchasing those products will make one more suitable for sex, or will perhaps enhance the pleasure of sex. The ability to perform more pleasurable sex also implies an ability to maintain sexual activity. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see advertisements for trucks, cars, and hamburgers with a woman in a bikini, or perhaps a woman appearing to look pleasured as she consumes a product in the advertisement.

Some advertisements may be subtler, perhaps feature people of either gender in more clothing and construct a simpler homage to the consumption of the product being sold. However, the advertisements either seek to make one appear more likely to have sexual appeal, through physical sexual appeal or the appearance of success, or to sell a product that will enhance the current sexual appeal between lovers and maintain it for marriage, which implies the performance of sex on a generally consistent basis, the consistency relative to each individual couple and not universal. Although, the societal image of a healthy relationship, by cultural standards, implies some level of sexual activity. Additionally, if two people are happy together, they can only stay together if they continue purchasing products, continue consuming, which inherently maintains their sexual appeal. Someone not in a relationship or married can either maintain their sexual appeal by consuming products, if they are sexually active, or advertisements imply that products will make that person more sexually appealing, and therefore more likely to become sexually active, whether with a single individual or different individuals on different occasions, this also is relative to the individual and certainly not universal. In all, due to the bourgeoisie’s culture of sex, we are all trapped by sex. It is everywhere we look and inherent in all of our decisions as consumers.

Sex has come a long way from its barest terms of procreation and natural evolution of the human species, and has become a commodity, traded, sold, and bartered directly, but also an inherent pursuit within everyone. Rather than viewing sex as an act of procreation, we are taught to derive pleasure from sex and the act of sex can be manipulated to elevate one’s status in society. Sex has also become casual and loose, aided by apps such as Tinder and Grinder, which can link people of either gender to one another for the sole purpose of having sex. Sex has become a tool that one can use to elevate oneself in society or simply to maintain status in a society dominated by sex and status derived under the pretense of one having sex. Sex is certainly not universal, the frequency of one performing the act and frequency of different partners is relative to each individual as well as the amount of pleasure derived from the act is relative to the individual. However, sex is nonetheless inescapable in society and inherent in each individual of society, as a consumer of goods and services, because whenever one becomes a consumer in society, they are, at some level, adhering to the bourgeoisie’s culture of sex and seek to either derive pleasure from sex or maintain or gain status as a result of performing sex or simply appearing as though they are sexually active, and this is accomplished through pleasured looking women in bikinis, eating hamburgers or sitting on cars, or perhaps doing both, in advertisements for bourgeoisie corporations.

No longer is sex the natural process of conceiving a child. In modern times, sex has become an act that more often than not does not result in conception, and can often mean nothing, if it is desired by the individuals performing the act. Sex may still be considered an unavoidable must, but now it is everywhere we look and constantly occupies our minds and forces repression of feelings in the everyday lives of consumers, and this obsession is exacerbated by the chronic symbols of sex inherent everywhere in society, which also serve to alienate us as individuals. Sex is still the sole purpose of life, but for the individual, and not for the barest purpose of conceiving another child. At some level within all individuals of society, regardless of race or class, there is some semblance of cultural influence from the bourgeoisie’s culture of sex. Some may be more active players and some may be more passive, the terms of the bourgeoisie’s culture of sex are not defined to be universal. Sex is only to pervade all life, with relative terms of its pervasiveness, but it is inescapable to any individual within society.

            On the whole, the myth of sex as the fulfillment of one’s cultural self-image rather than the ultimate sacrifice for conceiving another human being is sold to the consumer by more active adherents to the myth, such as Kim Kardashian, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, and other models who appear in magazines such as Playboy, or even Vanity Fair, to such an extent that sex is drilled into the mind of even the most passive consumer. Take, for instance, the sexualization of pregnant mothers by bourgeoisie corporations. The seductive appeal of sex, having babies, and continuing the life cycle is ingrained into the fabric of consumption by the recurring phenomena of famous women posing nude in magazines, either well along in their pregnancy or posing nude with a newly popped out nude baby. The seduction of mothers is purported by the bourgeoisie corporations that run the ads, magazines, and media, but also by those famous women who take the money to become sexual objects exploited by those corporations. In the process, this exploitation also exploits the consumers, or the mass populace, as the image of seduction and sexual appeal implies to the consumer that only by looking attractive or successful, or by having children and continuing the life cycle, or in the jackpot case of both privileges, can someone gain or maintain status in a capitalist society that is propped up on sex and sexual objectification. 

            When I was sitting in front of the TV box the other day, an Old Navy commercial came onto the screen. Amazingly, all I had to Google was “Old Navy Commercial 2017” and a teenage bubble-butt in bright blue leggings, or as my girlfriend believes they might be, “jeggings,” was staring back at me as the first option. I can only hope this isn’t the main design for their spring advertising, but I can’t fathom that this ad is the first option to my search, or that the main image of the video is a girl’s backside. The brightness of the commercial, in bright, broad, daylight and the brightness of the fashion seem to cater to the upper middle classes, and the floral designs of the girls jumping out of her windows, backwards, all imply a certain age group or demographic being targeted by the ad. Also leading me to this conclusion is the necessity for the girls to jump out of windows in order to see boys in the first place. The larger message being conveyed is to rebel and have fun. Cut loose. Be young. Live in the moment. And I believe these are all honorable messages to young, blossoming high-school age peoples.

However, the ads do a close-up view of numerous girls’ backsides to give the consumer a chance to see how good their butts could look in Old Navy clothing. If rebelling and looking good, particularly looking good in the backside, are the messages being conveyed in conjunction with one another in an ad marketed to high-school age peoples, then what is society, through bourgeoisie corporations such as Old Navy, implying about the extent of rebellion? If girls are being taught to sneak out and disobey their parents, which, by the way, would most often than not occur during the nighttime and not during broad, peachy daylight, and to look good in the backside while doing it, then what is the end goal?

The video ends with a guy helping a girl putt a ball into a hole, while in a party scene, the “putting green” for the moment being the table full of drinks, and the “hole” being an emptied, or drunken, party cup. It is unclear why or how there was a golf club lying around in the club they are partying in. All this to tell us, the consumers, that “ALL pants, jeans, and tops up to 40% off!” (However, the sale also comes at the expense of the exploitation of child slave labor in other countries) In this capitalist society, status as cool, hip, desirable members of society is built around sexual objectification, and it starts at the seductive appeal of conceiving babies, it starts at conception, and the consumer is exploited by the myth of sex as the fulfillment of one’s self-image, as a way to gain or maintain status, until death. We have bourgeoisie corporations such as Viagra and Cialis to prolong our sexual viability for as long as possible. The myth of sex as a means to gain or maintain status is imbedded so deeply into the capitalist society that Old Navy can blatantly throw this ad into the mass populace of passive consumers and essentially sell sex to high-school aged peoples as a means of achieving status as cool or fun, to fulfill the image of the fun, partier who can look good while partying with cheap, but not tacky, clothing.  As consumers, it seems the end goal of consumption is sexual appeal, which has the end goal of sex, in some form, and is constantly being sold to us as consumers in a capitalist society. Whether passively or actively, we are all trapped by the bourgeoisie’s selling of sex.