Sex =Shopping

Kyna Collins

Professor Wexler

ENG 313

October 13, 2008

Sex is Shopping

“Well, I mean you wouldn't buy a skirt without asking your friends first if it looks good on you” said the character Gretchen Wieners in the film “Mean Girls”, directed by Mark Waters. Why would the girls care if the skirt looked especially good on them and moreover, why would the acceptance of others make a difference? The subject of materialism and its significance as a freedom for women will be explored in this essay by using Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, the movie “Mean Girls” as well as a few other theorists. In the female world, women find their sexuality through materialism. Even Holly Golightly, the female protagonist from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, is initially described by the “slim cool black dress, black sandals, a pearl choker” (12) that she wears. Materialism is a significant form of freedom for women’s sexuality and is embraced by periods of societal consumption.

To begin, materialism and its specific relation to women and sexuality will be examined. Objects are an imperative part of defining society. Materials, especially clothing, enable women to make themselves distinctive from other women and therefore may make them more attractive as compared to other women. Chris Barker states, “Culture does not float free of the material conditions of life” (46). In the movie “Mean Girls”, the main character Cady Heron is addressed and judged by the clothing she wears on the first day of school, including a bracelet that looks homemade. It is only later on that we learn that she is comparatively intelligent. Likewise, Holly Golightly clothes herself in a robe with nothing underneath when she sneaks upstairs through the fire escape. Also, women have a tremendous amount of varying options for clothing that can easily them separate from men in a patriarchal period. Culturally, women have to appear unrelated to their biological opposite. Although they must distinguish themselves as unique, they are undoubtedly linked. Jacques Derrida explains “Every concept is necessarily and essentially, inscribed in a chain or a system, within which it refers to another and to other concepts, by the systematic play of differences” (392). Men and women could be considered opposites yet would not exist without the other and could not be fully described. “Mean Girls” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” both have female protagonists that have to fight another counter whether it be a mean group of girls or the men that are trying to capture them. Chris Barker explains, “[C]ultural studies has developed a form of cultural materialism that is concerned to explore how and why meanings are inscribed at the moment of production […] [C]ultural studies has been concerned with: who owns and controls cultural production; the distribution mechanisms for cultural products; the consequences of patterns of ownership and control for contours of the cultural landscape” (9).The ownership component is inevitable in fashion and women and is a sure way of expressing sexuality. Materialism is unquestionable in society and evokes a sense of sexuality for women.

Next, how sexuality and materialism are determined by society and its consumption will be explored. In “Mean Girls” when Cady is made over by the Plastics, she is immediately perceived differently by the other students. Holly is always an image to discuss and the men at the bar cannot help but be consumed by her presence or lack thereof. The more attention that is paid to the characters and their material state, the more powerful they are. Barker states, “[T]he moment of consumption is also a moment of meaningful production. The moment of consumption marks one of the processes by which we are formed as persons” (11). For example, when Regina George, the leader of the Plastics, wears sweatpants to school on a day when it does not agree with the rules, she is deemed inferior. Although the clothing and fashion industry would not traditionally be considered a center of power, for women it is a central figure that shapes their lives. Michel Fouccault says, “[N]ever have there existed more centers of power; never more attention manifested and verbalized; never more circular contacts and linkages; never more sites where the intensity of pleasures and the persistency of power catch hold” (691). That struggle for power between the women and the “other” is constituted by society and its consumption and relies on the relationship between the two. Barker also notes, “However, consumption-orientated cultural studies argues that meanings are produced, altered and managed at the level of use by people who are active producers of meaning” (50). Those with the power have the ability to shape the meaning they desire. Basically, the consumption of society is the abridgement between women and their sexuality.

Lastly, the significant component of freedom has to be addressed and how it is reached through materialism and sexuality. In Holly’s story, she is considered free when she is able to be sexually innocent. When the man she is engaged to breaks it off and she is no longer on the typical pedestal of becoming a wife, she feels more free and able to surmount any negative obstacle. Also, in conclusion, Cady is freed when she reveals herself as the clothing on the outside matches her demeanor in personality. When she is not dolled up in another persons material ideal but alternatively in a simple astute outfit of jeans and a long-sleeve henley. Jean Baudrillard describes the reasoning as, “Consumer society (objects, products, advertising), for the first time in history offers the individual the opportunity for total fulfillment and liberation; The system of consumption constitutes an authentic language, a new culture; when pure and simple consumption is transformed into a means of individual and collective expression” (410). Both characters are eventually freed when they are allowed their own individual style and materialism and that is the instant when their sexuality shines through.

Overall, “Mean Girls” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” show how society consumes those women who show freely their materialistic side and finds those women irrefutably sexy. For women, shopping is like sex because the material will help them reach that substantial liberty in the body and mind.

Works Cited

Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. 3rd edition. London: SAGE Publications

Ltd., 2008.

Baudrillard, Jean. “The System of Objects.”

Truman. Breakfast At Tiffany’s. New York: Penguin Books, 1958.

Derrida, Jacques. “Différance.”

Foucault, Michael. “The History of Sexuality.”

Waters, Mark. “Mean Girls”. Paramount Pictures. 2004.

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History of Sexuality

Michel Foucault's "The History of Sexuality" offers several intriguing viewpoints. His main points consisted of a list of a couple statements regarding "the power exercised" in culture and sexuality. I will establish my reaction in the order that the labels are addressed and how he suggests they run the power structure of how sexuality is perceived. Marriage and adultery are positively ideas of the church and although it definitely still dominates today's western ideology I think the point about trying to distill the children and the secretive nature of sexuality and children is becoming overturned. With the increasing advertising in today's culture, children are becoming predisposed to sexy images and Americans are having to be more open with their children and educating them about sex rather than hiding it. I am not saying that this has completely enveloped our culture but it is a change occurring simultaneously. Secondly, "the new persecution of the peripheral sexualities entailed an incorporation of perversions and a new specification of individuals. Being meticulous about categorizing what type of sexual fantasies one may have does not open new avenues for accepting sexuality but rather just announces it. Some may say that solely announcing to describing a sexuality is not the same as accepting and embracing it. The author states, "The machinery of power focused on this whole alien strain did not aim to suppress it, but rather to give it an analytical, visible, and permanent reality". The showing of these categories is neither a positive or negative attribute but rather an educational moment. Next, his third point reminded me of the binaries that must exist with every sign (Derrida and Saussure). With every act, there is a secret, and for every secret there must be attention to it. Different institutions offer varying relationships with sexuality and therefore have the power to offer perspective without being judgmental. The fourth point discusses, "devices of sexual saturation" and divisions of society and sexual acceptance. The "high society" often faces more microscopic observation and especially into something so privatized as sex. I think this perfectly relates to our discussion about radical culture because looking at it from a humanistic viewpoint, I doubt that it SHOULD change our behavior but it undoubtedly does. Lastly, sexual repression occurs as an effect of societal views and still holds true today. Now we seem more open to discussion about sex yet it is explored more like a science than a fun, humanistic behavior. Since there are more structures of power today, is that why sex causes commotion it does today?

Tifffannnnnyyyyyyyyyys

Erotic publicity and forcibly being exposed to "radical" acts is both
the basis of contemporary media and Breakfast at Tiffany's by Turman
Capote.  As for Tuesday's (short) discussion, the public is turned on by
the exhilarating character of Holly Golightly as if she were Paris,
Lindsey, or Britney.  Although she reveals that she would not want to be
famous because of the senselessness it incorporates, she leads a similar
lifestyle.  The male narrator is attracted to her sexuality and beauty 
like in "Ten" yet the promiscuity reveals her as a lost heroine instead
of a strong independent. Breakfast at Tiffany's delves into the history
of the young mademoiselle and the downfall of her love life is an issue
of loneliness, family, and age rather than for the sheer experience. As
a contrast, when speaking of the male mentality of promiscuity there
tends to be a lack of explanation or true "issue" and is typically
blamed on testosterone.  As a scheme, Holly goes to visit an inmate
every Thursday, and whether actual or not, she is vulnerable to the
power and control of males as her entire life has been previously. 
Although she enjoys several rendezvous with the visitors of her
apartment, they contstantly fill a male void whether it be her first
husband, brother, or future husband.