Pornumentaries and Sexploitation:
The Cultural Signs of Sex
The signs of sex permeate our increasingly visual cultural environment.
Whether directly or implicitly, representations of sex are virtually inescapable in
today’s society, in spite of (or precisely because of) our current neo-conservative
climate. Advertisements, TV shows, films, all contribute to the creation of a
pervasive, if only suggested, sexual narration which, strangely enough, has not
yet benefited from the scholarly approach it deserves. It is a given that repressed
sex does not disappear; on the contrary, it manifests itself in a variety of settings
and through a myriad of symbols, more or less obvious; therefore, it becomes
silent, unspoken sex, which reveals its voice when interpreted from a cultural
point of view. Repressed sex, in the end, appears to be much louder and
disturbing than it would be in a healthier, more open context and becomes a
weapon of manipulation to serve corporative financial gain. Although our
modem concepts of sex were bom in the nineteenth century (in 1869, to be
exact1) it seems logical to start our discussion with religious iconography, for
the prohibition of sex in our society is intimately related to judeo-christian
morality. I will then trace this tendency through a few key cultural artifacts,
including literary and cinematic works, as well as popular TV programs, in order
to show how the prohibition of sex has become a necessary condition for its
blatant exploitation.
John Paul II literally turned the Vatican into a sainthood factory.
During his tenure at the headquarters of Catholic Inc., he beatified 1,340
individuals and canonized more candidates than all popes combined during the
last 500 years.2 The intent clearly was to provide the catholic church with new
heroes, as well as grossly vast sums of money since the procedures of
beatification and canonization cost in the neighborhood of half a million euros
or dollars, depending on which bank arranges the transaction.3 Although John
Paul II appeared to be fairly open minded when it came to beatification,
accepting individuals from all walks of life, one constant remained: the
candidate to beatification had to have been sexually irreproachable. Even secular
individuals were considered, but only as long as they had left their families; that
is to say, eternal life was only promised to those with no sexual life, thus
perpetuating the long tradition of aggrandizing total sexual repression, a
characteristic of the catholic church. The connection between the prohibition of
sex and its financial exploitation is therefore easily established from the very
start within the house of the lord; what must be emphasized, however, is that the
narration of sex is present at the very core of catholic iconography in a subverted
way, demonstrating further the undeniable relationship between sexual
prohibition and perversion. For instance, from an objective, scholarly point of
view, the figure of the crucifixion is a very realistic and titillating