Women, Too, Can Objectify Sex

 For many writers -- particularly male, but not exclusively so -- female sexuality is a difficult topic. And never more so than in the present when it seems to increasingly be a moving target.

In that vein, Maya Phillips, a poet and cultural critic, had an interesting piece in the Feb. 4, 2021 "New York Times" entitled "On Female Sexual Desire" in the print edition, but confusingly, something different in the electronic version of the paper.  In any event, you can find it by clicking on the hypertext above.

The article, which discusses three TV shows, explores various aspects of female sexuality, all problematic in what Ms Phillips identifies as "our predatory culture," but for this post, I'm only going to talk about one of them.  I may come back to others later.

It's a familiar trope that when it comes to sex, men "objectify" women, or as Ms Phillips puts it: "with straight male characters, sex is rarely shown as anything more than an act."

To what extent might women be  drifting around to the same approach?

At the end of December, The Times, making its usual heavy contribution to year-end list journalism, published "The Best Pop Songs of 2020" by each of two of its critics.  

Generally unfamiliar with current trends in pop music (I did think Lady Gaga did a great job with the always troublesome national anthem at the Biden inauguration), glancing over the list, my eye fell upon Jon Pareles' third choice: "One Night Standards," by Ashley McBryde, who, not surprisingly, I had never heard of.  What was this song all about, I wondered, searching for the lyrics.

It's all about a woman, "I ain't Cinderella," who has initiated a hook-up, or a one-night stand as they used to be called in line with the title of the song, and wants her partner -- presumably a man, but perhaps not -- to think of it as nothing more than that.  In other words, she is determined to objectify her partner and make sure that what is happening is no more than an act (as Ms Phillips would put it).

"Can't you just use me like I'm using you?" Ms McBride sings at one point.

If you are interested, you can read the rest of the lyrics here. They continue entirely in that vein.

My point is that it appears straight men may well no longer have a monopoly on the objectification of sex and the Times apparently thinks that is important for readers to know: third best pop song of 2020, on one of the paper's two lists at any rate.  The other list, by the way, puts "WAP" by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion at number seven, but that's a different if highly illuminating take on just where female sexuality stands today.

The way things are going, Ms Phillips could be well advised to reel in her indignation a bit. Meanwhile, fertile ground for authors on how their female characters can be convincingly depicted.