Women's Sexuality in the 1800s and Now

This past week, two of my classes have discussed women’s sexuality; the history behind it and where we are today. In “Beauty (re)discovers the male body,” Bordo brings to the attention of the audience how it took a designer to try and target gay men in order for men to be sexualized in the media. Never mind that this is something women might like to look at. Even in the present day, where waiting until marriage is not as common of a practice and sexual promiscuity is prevalent, particularly on college campuses, women’s sexuality is still taboo and unequal. The idea still remains that women are not and should not be as sexual as men. Bordo uses a few studies as examples to illustrate how men can be more “erotically aroused” when compared to women. Perhaps advertisers believe that because can be more readily aroused, they are an easier target for consumerism. Bordo mentions how she initially felt ashamed and concerned for how strong her feelings of attraction were for the partially naked man in the Calvin Klein ad that originally caught her attention. But after years of educating herself, she realized that she did not need to feel that way, however, I think this shame is something many women still feel.

            Particularly on college campuses where the hook-up culture is prominent, there is a double standard regarding the sexual activity of men versus women. If a guy has sex with lots of girls and actively seeks it, this is considered normal male behavior. However, if a girl seeks out sex and has a lot of it, with numerous partners she will be judged by males, as well as females. I know I judge other girls despite the fact that I know it is not fair to do, or right. This summer I frequently listened to “Guys We F**cked- The anti-slut shaming podcast." The hosts are two, twenty something female comedians who interview guys they have slept with, as well as sex workers and anyone with an open-minded perspective on sex and the issues surrounding sex those who identify as female often face. For me the podcast was pretty enlightening as well as entertaining. The two women have the taboo conversations so many people are afraid to have and provide the listeners with new vocabulary in order to start conversations of their own.

            Thankfully, women nowadays have more outlets to discuss the issues of sex including this podcast as well as classes that empower women to embrace their womanhood. However, we still have a long way to go before our sexual behavior can be considered equal to that of men. I am taking a history class, which focuses on medicine and illness, and we have spent the past week discussing the use of chloroform and ether as forms of anesthesia in childbirth during the 1800s. There was much debate surrounding the use of chloroform, which proved to be more effective than ether. In some cases, doctors refused to use chloroform because it seemed to turn laboring pains to sexual sensations and women would supposedly orgasm while in labor. This of course was shameful because the woman was not being modest and it brought into question to ability of the obstetrician. The other argument against the use of chloroform was that labor pains were punishment for Eve’s transgressions and this punishment should not be dulled. This notion that women must be punished for sexual curiosity is still present today. The DKNY advertisement, in which the woman was holding the apple, is perhaps an inadvertent reminder of what Genesis says about women being the weaker sex whom are incapable of showing restraint and therefore must be punished.

            All of the articles I read regarding laboring pains and female sexuality in the 1800s were written by males or told from the male perspective. This is not surprising because men were the ones collecting statistics, writing journals and were the doctors of the era. However, I did manage to find a recent article talking about sexual practices in the Victorian Era. A young woman, Clelia Mosher, in the late 1800s attended Stanford determined to prove that the weaknesses of women “chalked up to sex were really the effects of binding garments, insufficient exercise and mental conditioning.” Once Mosher became a doctor, she started to survey women regarding their knowledge and enjoyment of sex. Many women confessed that they did not know about sex until marriage and they learned from older women or from watching farm animals. Many talked about how they had orgasms and enjoyed it and for those who did not enjoy sex, they believed their husband was to blame. Some expressed concern for enjoying sex and admitted that they would sleep in separate rooms from their husbands to avoid temptation. The women interviewed understood that there was a lack of knowledge and education regarding sex for both the husband and wife. This article illustrates how women in the 1800s were aware of their sexual desires but did not have the language or the outlet to discuss it, kind of like women today. We have made a lot of progress in regards to sexual education, starting dialogues and embracing womanhood, however, there is still plenty of room for improvement.