Commodified Freedom

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Majas on a Balcony, oil on canvas, ca. 1800–1810, (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

On the currency of desire.

Dear editors,

“It’s all about sex.” It’s a tagline and mantra. Sex sells, dominates, and defines us. The aphorism has been recycled so often it now reeks of tired familiarity.

It would be easy to dismiss our culture’s obsession with sex as sensationalism—just another tactic aimed at capturing our attention spans. But the constant undercurrent that laces every conversation, marketing campaign, and first date makes me wonder if it’s the other way around. What if the phrase was inverted? What if it’s not “all about sex,” but rather that sex is all about something else?

It’s not just that we love sex, but rather that we have come to love desire itself. The world accepts the commodification of bodies. The marketplace of the human body is perpetually open for business, its products on display in browser windows or social media feeds illuminated with electronic lust. Desire is the currency; sex is merely the transaction…

Read the full letter on The Harper Review