{"id":57087,"date":"2014-01-21T07:45:57","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T12:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=57087"},"modified":"2014-06-09T19:37:15","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T00:37:15","slug":"female-celebrities-and-the-faint-sexual-flame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2014\/01\/21\/female-celebrities-and-the-faint-sexual-flame\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Celebrities and the “Faint Sexual Flame”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3\"<\/a>Thanks to a tip from\u00a0Jay Livingston<\/a>, I came across this quote from The Pursuit of \u00a0Loneliness<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by sociologist Philip Slater. \u00a0It’s long, but wow:<\/p>\n

[I]t can\u2019t be denied that the female ideal in America is nonaggressive and nonthreatening, to the point of caricature.\u00a0 Take for example the film personality of the much-idolized Marilyn Monroe: docile, accommodating, brainless, defenseless, totally uncentered, incapable of taking up for herself or knowing what she wants or needs. A sexual encounter with such a woman in real life would border on rape \u2013 the idea of \u201cconsenting adults\u201d wouldn\u2019t even apply.\u00a0 The term \u201cperversion\u201d seems more appropriate for this kind of yearning than for homosexuality or bestiality, since it isn\u2019t directed toward a complete being.\u00a0 The Marilyn Monroe image was the ideal sex object for the sexually crippled and anxious male: a bland erotic pudding that would never upset his delicate stomach.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to realize that this Playboy ideal is a sign of low, rather than high, sexual energy.\u00a0 It suggests that the sexual flame is so faint and wavering that a whole person would overwhelm and extinguish it.\u00a0 Only a vapid, compliant ninny-fantasy can keep it alive. It\u2019s designed for men who don\u2019t really like sex but need it for tension-release \u2013 men whose libido is wrapped up in achievement or dreams of glory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Slater wrote this passage in 1970, hence the reference to Marilyn Monroe. \u00a0I would have to think hard about whether I think it still applies broadly, but I think it’s fair to say that the “bland erotic pudding” is still part of the repertoire of essentially every female celebrity who is successful in part because of her appearance. \u00a0I did a search for some of the most high-profile female actresses and singers today, looking specifically for images that might fit Slater’s description. \u00a0I invite your thoughts.<\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/a><\/p>\nLisa Wade, PhD<\/a> is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of <\/em>American Hookup<\/a>, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender<\/a>; and a forthcoming introductory text: <\/em>Terrible Magnificent Sociology<\/a>.\u00a0You can follow her on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to a tip from\u00a0Jay Livingston, I came across this quote from The Pursuit of \u00a0Loneliness\u00a0by sociologist Philip Slater. \u00a0It’s long, but wow: [I]t can\u2019t be denied that the female ideal in America is nonaggressive and nonthreatening, to the point of caricature.\u00a0 Take for example the film personality of the much-idolized Marilyn Monroe: docile, accommodating, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":57095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41,329,55,2096,2087,129,23703,120],"class_list":["post-57087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-celebrity","tag-emotion","tag-gender","tag-gender-femininity","tag-gender-masculinity","tag-media","tag-marketing","tag-sex"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2013\/09\/Screenshot_25.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57087"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61113,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57087\/revisions\/61113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}