Whorehouse: Technology’s impact on cultural perceptions of sexuality in a patriarchal society

Abstract

America is considered one of the most sexually open and free societies in the western world. Sex is exhibited on television screens, in movie theaters, and inside of museums. It is presented in games and in literature. It’s plastered all over social media platforms and advertisements. This is because America is a nation that is founded on by male-dominated powers. Visual content is catered to a cis heterosexual male gaze. The male gaze, a term coined by Laura Mulvey is defined as “A manner of treating women's bodies as objects to be surveyed, which is associated by feminists with hegemonic masculinity, both in everyday social interaction and in relation to their representation in visual media.” Since the rise of technology and communication, sexual expression has been at the forefront of output and advancement. There is smut dating back to the dawn of Gutenburg’s printing press and now there is pornography as high tech as virtual reality simulations. American people are surrounded by sexual spectacle in all means of media yet they are not able to make conversations to educate the public on sexuality. But, Hypersexualization is not the same as the normalization of sex especially on large public platforms. And, because of this immense accessibility to sexualized technologies, the public is presented with a variety of consequences.