3 Capitalism & The Patriarchy : Deconstructing Sex and the Institution

Jana Dubinovsky

The invasion of the marketplace into the private sphere creates hegemonic standards that lead to tangible physical and psychological harms for female-presenting or -identifying people in the Western world. Patriarchal standards, commodified, dehumanize individuals in order to bolster products, create rigid identities, and scrutinize individuals and their relationships through a personal and societal panopticon. With the construction of what can now be assessed as the post-postmodern condition of human existence, many aspects of the private sphere have been weaponized and commodified by those with the power to implant norms and beliefs into reality. Many of the problems of human freedom and flourishing can be traced to moral conflict between privacy and autonomy, and harm-reduction.

Sex cannot be separated, at this stage, neither from capitalism nor from power, at least in the industrialized world. Industries have taken a very intimate aspect of biological life and used it as a means of advertising, commercializing, and implanting a universal norm that was always intended to encourage conformity to further drive profits. History has its various paragons of ideal beauty, from Helen of Troy to Marilyn Monroe. Elevating one version of the human appearance above the rest has had devastating tangible and psychological detriment to the general population. Media conglomerates use this to their advantage. How long has ‘sex sells’ been a keystone of advertising? If there is appeal to baser instinct, consumers may be more likely to invest in the product. Take Victoria’s Secret, the largest lingerie retailer in America. Before the rise of their brand, underwear was treated in a more utilitarian fashion. Through marketing, this brand told consumers that luxurious underwear was a necessity. Not only that, but beautiful women were shown to advertise this product in an appeal to a male audience. Capitalism has shaped the image of sex appeal through commercialization and influence of sociocultural trends, putting forth an unattainable ideal with the intentions of exploitation and profit. It is not a stretch to say that body image issues and body dysmorphic disorder, especially for the vulnerable demographic of young people, has been on the rise for decades. The age of social media has done nothing to stop or slow this decline, broadcasting algorithmic feeds of thin, white, conventionally attractive people to lure in consumers. Conscious understanding of these harms, especially for young people, is subverted through its medium. Celebrities and influencers, praised for their appearance and lifestyle, cultivate a specific insecurity in their audience that creates a craving for an unattainable life. These anxieties, that one’s identity is not valuable to society, are not new. For someone to want a product or service in their life, there must be some initial lack; the structure of capitalism aims to exploit apparent personal failings for a profit motive. If commodification of some feature was not generally desirable, it would not be effective marketing.

From where do these desires originate’? Beauty trends do not exist in a vacuum. Studies done with infants may show that beauty is not solely in the eye of the beholder. When shown images of juxtaposed faces, one “attractive” (symmetrical facial features) and one “unattractive,” babies displayed preference towards the conventionally attractive faces, as measured through gaze duration. Biologically, this is explained by assessing the fitness of a potential reproductive partner, in order to ensure quality gene combination for future offspring. Personal sexual and romantic attraction and identity are matters of individualism, but the marketplace makes ontological a certain appearance type through selective emphasis. The pressure of the marketplace also places an obligation on the participating individual to concede to exaggerated conventional norms.

Strict maintenance of the private sphere as it conforms to social norms is not a new phenomenon. Even before the age of industrialization, it was important to any entity intent on controlling a group to set boundaries on individual behavior. One of the many prominent examples is organized religion, of which a key aspect is the ability to proliferate into an individual’s personal beliefs and traditions, and is thus passed on generationally. Emphasis on one specific standard of identity became something against which feminists of the twentieth century began to rebel.

Throughout history, beauty trends have been evident in artwork, literature, and even in morality. The Ancient Greeks, for example, believed beauty was objective. Beauty was considered an inherent part of morality, and thus beautiful people were thought to be moral by design. Women severely alter their appearance to conform to unrealistic notions of beauty, whether it be plastic surgery, face creams loaded with arsenic and mercury, or wearing wigs when hair lightening solutions cause follicle destruction. The issue of identity has a corporal effect – not only is there an inner sense of lacking, or of unworthiness, but also external consequences as individuals attempt to fit themselves into a distinct mold instead of embracing authenticity and self-respect.

The invasion of the marketplace into citizens’ private lives (their identities and relationships) flattens abstract concepts such as familial roles in what would otherwise be a multidimensional dynamic. Rigid identities arise through patriarchal standards, assoc1atmg masculinity with power and femininity with sensitivity and care. Traditional power structures affect individuals who find themselves leaning outside these extremes. The universalization of ideals prejudiced towards a speci6c subsect of people has been devastatingly harmful to individuals, communities, and entire nations. Typifying one standard of behavior or personage leads to prejudice and harm targeted towards those who do not exemplify such. This phenomenon is an echo of the panopticon; however, there is no concrete omniscience observing individuals as unwitting prisoners. Nonetheless, individuals experience malicious observation through the pressure to conform, first externally until it becomes unconscious habit to compare oneself to others and find herself bereft. Proliferation of speci6c cultural norms related to private identities make individuals aware of themselves as either marketable products or consumers thereof: further emphasizing the discrepancy between authentic individual reality and curated market essentialism.

Jana Dubinovsky is in her third year of studying philosophy, law, and ethics at the University of Baltimore. She enjoys studying existentialism and deontology.