Modern women’s fashion has continuously fed the oxymoronic beast that has blighted our culture for years. Curiously, this two-faced beast has not birthed two separate problems; instead, it has excreted one monstrous issue that looms over modern women.Â
The sexualization of the female body is an omnipresent obstruction in the way of life of all women. Both skimpy clothing and modest dress contribute to viewing the female body as in servitude for sexual pleasure. The revealing clothes highlight the sexual aspects of the body, as if they are items in a display window. While the forcefulness of modesty implies that the female body is perpetually sexual, it must be covered up in all contexts that are not sensual.Â
The most popular form of media at this time is short-form social media videos on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. There has been a rise in hashtags and fads promoting modesty dressing and conservative lifestyles. The most infamous example of this is the “trad wife.”
Interwoven between these conservative fads are trending clothing items, music and dances that align with the overarching theme of showing off the sexual aspects of the female body. “Sex sells” is a phrase many of our ears our accustomed to hearing, and it is one that we will keep hearing as long as marketing specialists keep seeing more money come in from manipulating the human desire for sex.Â
“Sex sells” could also be argued as another oxymoronic ideology. To argue that human beings have an inherent, ravenous desire for sex would be to say humans are no better than their biology. While also encouraging involvement in human social developments, such as economic systems.
Women are expected to be reduced to just their curves and reproductive organs because humans are inherently animalistic, with no control over their wants. While engaging in a system that proves humans are capable of more than just animalistic behaviors.Â
Sex does not just sell to men; women’s purchases are also based on sexuality expectations. The attractive Instagram model selling vitamins that supposedly make your breasts grow is not targeting male shoppers, the TikToker showing you how her glutes appear larger in the leggings that “you just have to have” is not targeting male shoppers, nor is the trad wife lifestyle being advertised as a way to keep a stable marriage.
Strategic marketers are using the insecurities women have about wanting to feel more sexually appetizing to garner more sales. They know that since the female body is sexualized by the masses regardless of the cloth, or lack thereof, covering it, women have become hyper-aware of their sensuality. This leads to an open wound that they can dig their way into with the promise of feeling confident, a feeling that is stripped from women the second they become overly sexualized.Â
The fashion industry is one of the largest industries on the planet. Meaning it has some of the most strategic marketers in its possession. Using a widespread problem means there are more people they can profit off of. Through marketing, they can further feed the oxymoronic beast until the problem grows to what feels to the masses as something out of their control.
That’s when marketers swoop in and offer solutions that can be bought, offering many solutions to appeal to different groups, while perpetuating the same issue. Looking towards the future, it is unclear whether immodest or modest fashion will be the next fashion trend to dominate – but one thing is for certain: fashion will continue to sexualize the female body.Â