With the recent overturning of decades of precedent on privacy set by Roe v. Wade via the recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision weighing heavy on the hearts of the nation, bodily autonomy is at a critical juncture that will determine how bodies experience pleasure for years to come. After all, what is pleasure without freedom? This seems grim but it is also not the first time certain bodies have been denied some kind of freedom. In order to be able to own our sexuality amid chaos, we need to recognize each other’s struggles, trace the historical elitism of pleasure, and stand together to say “never again.” So, let us explore which bodies are “allowed” to have private, sexual pleasure as determined by the public sphere.
We begin at the very conception of binary thinking (public versus private, woman versus man, etc.): Platonian society circa 428-347 B.C. Plato represents one of the first political commentators to engage in conversation revolving around women’s positionality in society. However, he chooses to have this conversation on the grounds of what is good for the community, and not for the equality of the genders. He understands that in order for society to continue, women are the necessary backbones in the home (the private sphere), through their birthing and raising of children, cleaning, cooking, etc.; yet he refuses to allow them the satisfaction of freedom in the public sphere.
Plato’s traditional concepts also justify heteronormative thinking, because everything is typically discussed in terms of male/female relationships, no matter the genders of the people engaging in them. We still see this type of binary thinking and existence forced on people today, centuries later, highlighting the power of Plato’s original ideological conceptions. This type of thinking is the main reason certain bodies feel excluded from the narrative and therefore feel undeserving of pleasure. This is not to mention the prosecution certain minorities feel for engaging in the types of sex from which they derive pleasure, including kink practices. Society’s longstanding sex-scare tactics may be what led to Texas’ abortion ban in September of 2021 and can be seen as an easy bridge to cross to get to more drastic consequences, not only overturning Roe v. Wade but potentially even artificial reproduction or sterilization.
In the present day, this type of technology and science (sterilization, IVF treatments, etc.) exists but is not always used for the most altruistic reasons. The forced sterilization of many women in Puerto Rico, the southern states of the United States, Jewish populations in World War II, and ICE detainees were used to advance eugenics. It is no coincidence that the targeted populations were women of color and minorities. This is a consequence of the racist and classist perspectives that interact with and enhance the sexist regulations surrounding women’s bodies and sexual tendencies.
Because of the already highly regulated laws placed on women’s bodies, it is no surprise that women’s options for birth control are little to none. The few that do exist come with awful side effects not being examined by the male-dominated scientific field. This is in contrast to the prescription drug, Viagra, for men which aids Erectile Dysfunction (and is necessary for pleasurable sex in some cases) that is covered by many insurance companies. Women’s responsibility to both childbear and childrear when fertilization occurs, is one men are not required to share, from both a societal and legal perspective. Thus, women must make a difficult choice: if the long-term pain is worth the short-term pleasure of sexual intercourse. Therefore, in order for women to have pleasurable sex, they might be at risk of having unsafe sex. As we know, generally people do not feel pleasure when they are also not feeling safe or comfortable, and everyone has a right to feel safe.
Ultimately, it seems that for centuries male bodies are the only ones “allowed” to feel pleasure, specifically during sex. Not only does this exclude women, but also transgender, intersex, nonbinary, and other people. Engaging in a sexual pleasure conversation guides one to look at things from a heterosexual perspective, which is inherently heteronormative. This excludes the entire LGBTQ+ community from the dominant conversation and pushes their sex to be seen as “othered” itself. Therefore, in many ways going against the heteronormative patriarchy can be beneficial to one’s individual pleasure. The journey to and achievement of pleasure currently comes with huge burdens and the conversation about this is surrounded by scare tactics aiming to control women’s bodies and enjoyment. In order to find solutions for these problems, sex must be destigmatized, women must have more say in the conversation as well as power from the bedroom to the boardroom, and society must shift its views to believe that feeling comfortable and satisfied are fundamental rights.
By Emily Carriere