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.. .. The best era for women's pictures was the pre-Code era, the five years between the point that talkies became widely accepted in 1929 through July 1934, when the dread and draconian Production Code became the law of Hollywoodland.  Before the Code, women on screen took lovers, had babies out of wedlock, got rid of cheating husbands, enjoyed their sexuality, held down professional positions without apologizing for their self-sufficiency, and in general acted the way many of us think women only acted after 1968. Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer were stars of the first order who emerged during the image-conscious era of the mid-twenties...

When Garbo and Shearer started their careers, there were only two kinds of women in the movies.  Actresses' images were confined to one-dimensional roles straight out of the nineteenth century. A woman of sexual power was evil, if she chose to exercise and enjoy her power.  And a nice woman stayed virtuous, even if she did, like Clara Bow, put on a short skirt and go dancing every night. Those were the choices, vamp or ingenue. Take one or the other. Everything else was just a variation on a theme.  Garbo, by nature aloof and mysterious, was forced to play the vamp, a role she hated. Shearer, who radiated integrity, was forced to play the innocent ingenue, which frustrated her.  So they rebelled. Over time, and with some struggle, they persuaded Hollywood to drop the stereotypes and greet a new day. They made the movies safe for real women, and a flood of actresses followed them. *from introduction:**Complicated Women : Sex and Power  in Pre-Code Hollywood - by Mick Lasalle cover photo: Norma Shearer

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Sex is good, but not as good as fresh sweet corn. Garrison Keillor [Utne Sep/Oct 2003, from The Sun, June 2003]

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In Jill's neighborhood there was a giant billboard advertisement for a perfume called Obsession. ... It was a close-up.. of an exquisite girl with the fingers of one hand pressed against her open lips.  Her eyes were fixated, wounded, deprived. At the same time, her eyes were flat. Her body was slender, almost starved, giving her delicate beauty the strange, arrested sensuality of unsatisfied want.  But her fleshy lips and enormous eyes were sumptuously, even grossly abundant. The photograph loomed over the toiling shoppers like a totem of sexualized pathology, a vision of feeling and unfeeling chafing together.  It was a picture made for people who can't bear to feel and yet still need to feel. It was a picture by people sophisticated enough to fetishize their disability publicly. It was a very good advertisement for a product called Obsession. from "The Dentist" - in Because They Wanted to: Stories - by Mary Gaitskill  /  photo: Kate Moss

...related pages:.......dysfunction / disorder.......mental health

> more perspectives on Kate Moss and the Obsession ads by Kathy Bruin of About-Face on body image: page 3

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The corset is probably the most controversial garment in the entire history of fashion. Worn by women throughout the western world from the late Renaissance into the twentieth century, the corset was an essential element of fashionable dress for about 400 years.  Yet throughout its history, the corset was widely perceived as an "instrument of torture" and a major cause of ill health and even death. Today the corset is almost universally condemned as having been an instrument of women's oppression.  Historians argue that especially during the Victorian era, corsetry functioned as a coercive apparatus through which patriarchal society controlled women and exploited their sexuality. Many women supposedly "tight-laced," achieving waist measurements of less than eighteen inches, thereby crushing their ribs and internal organs.  Fortunately, progress in women's emancipation resulted in the demise of corsetry at the beginning of the twentieth century. In this book, I shall challenge the reductiveness of this picture, which frames the history of the corset in terms of oppression versus liberation, and fashion versus comfort and health.

Corsetry was not one monolithic, unchanging experience that all unfortunate women experienced before being liberated by feminism. It was a situated practice that meant different things to different people at different times.  Some women did experience the corset as an assault on the body. But the corset also had many positive connotations - of social status, self-discipline, artistry, respectability, beauty, youth, and erotic allure.  .....Valerie Steele *from book: The Corset: A Cultural History -  by Valerie Steele related books: Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power - by Valerie Steele  Support and Seduction: The History of Corsets and Bras by Beatrice Fontanel photos: Victorian Bridal Corset from absolutecorsets.com ;  Cabaret artist Margill wearing a corset bodice      ~ ~ more on lingerie etc on page: fashion design

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When I was young, I remember seeing Melina Mercouri or Anna Magnani on TV and thinking, "Wow, who are those women?" I was trying to understand sexuality. They had a kind of vulnerability, and yet a way about them that said "yes" to life in a very courageous way.  If you define sensuality as those European actresses did, then you don't ever have to give it up. ***Susan Sarandon***[Modern Maturity, Nov/Dec 2002] *related book: 50 Celebrate 50: Fifty Extraordinary Women Talk About Facing,  Turning, and Being Fifty - by Connie Collins, foreword by Susan Sarandon

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A good family life is absolutely important. But I do want to be lusted after. And I think I ought to be. ... That's why I like my latest role [Delia] in "Personal Velocity." She's a highly sexual creature who gains a lot of power by being highly sexual.***Kyra Sedgwick***[Esquire, Oct 2002]    ~ ~ "I think that for me and many women," says [writer/director] Rebecca Miller.. [the character] Delia is an extreme form of it, because she's the school slut - the whole identification with sexuality, where does that leave you later in life?  Who is that woman when her identity has been formed by sexuality so completely?" That identification with your sexuality is especially true, notes Kyra Sedgwick, "if you're attractive or you've gotten positive reinforcement for your body or your accouterments."  [LA Times Nov 24 2002] - about the film based on Miller's collection of short stories: Personal Velocity

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Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader in  "Secretary"

 

For Maggie Gyllenhaal, drawing the line between a comment on feminism and female assertion, and titillating sexuality on screen, was fine indeed, and the actress thought long and hard on those very questions.  "I think that if it had been falling off one side of this line, it would have been a titillating movie where the girl was getting off on getting subjugated which was sexy and hot, which is in a lot of ways reactionary.  "I think the other side of it is very close to that and that's why it is very complicated and like walking on a tightrope," Gyllenhaal further explains.  "I think that for the last century these rules have been set up by feminists, to help lessen the gap in equality between men and women.  "I am so thankful for those rules and I think it has allowed really amazing and interesting things to happen and have been extremely important," elucidates the actress.  As a 24-year she says, she is "just beginning to be a woman now and I feel like those rules are no longer absolutely accurate or really necessarily helpful in the form that they're in right now.  I think that actually they feel to me a little bit constricting and I think that the only way to sort of move forward with what those rules were initially intending to do is to shape them up a little bit, and say, 'Well, what needs to fall away and what needs to be moved, and what needs to change as time goes by?'"

Which is where a provocative film such as Secretary comes into play, argues Gyllenhaal. "I think that the making of this movie where the girl is submissive, is empowered, opened and awakened by the relationship that she has with this guy, I think, has to be allowed." Asked if Gyllenhaal can identify with the character, the actress pauses considerably.  "I can identify with all of it. It doesn't mean that I'm her, which I'm obviously not, but I do think that certainly what happens to her is that she goes from being asleep and really unable to feel, coming from a world where she had not been encouraged to feel, certainly not the dark and complicated things in her which everybody has in them, to a place where she is awake and where she can acknowledge both what's dark and complicated and kind of a little weird compared to what everyone said you are supposed to feel, as well as the things that are beautiful and sexy and gentle and kind.  "She goes from being someone who is asleep to someone who is awake and I feel like she goes from being someone who -- she becomes a woman. And I'm going through the same, so I can relate to that hugely."**    **[darkhorizons.com Sept. 20, 2002]

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Tony Kushner:  When I saw Secretary the audience maybe came expecting to get some kinky pleasure out of it, and found themselves disturbed and moved. It's genuinely surprising. Maggie Gyllenhaal:  Yeah. I like what the ad campaign did, though at first I didn't. It was this woman's ass, and it said, "Assume the position." A lot of people came in expecting to see something they didn't see.      [Interview, Feb, 2003]         Secretary..[[dvd]

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When I had my first book published.. people were emotionally affected by it... However it's also true that they saw the book in totally different ways than I meant it. Not in a bad way. For example, some people saw the story "Secretary" as a social statement about the evil of jobs and the horror of sexual harassment. Other people thought it as a story about a young girl being liberated from her tightness by a beneficent old guy. [You wrote in both novels: "Somebody opened me up in a way that I had no control over."  What is it about losing control in a relationship that is so attractive for your characters?] There can be something innately erotic about it because there's a sense of limitlessness to losing control especially if you're a person with a lot of limits. And if you're used to being like that, the idea of having the limits just totally ripped off, anything can happen.  It can be arousing, not just sexually, but in every way. It can be frightening to some, but fear can be exciting as well.* ***Mary Gaitskill - from interview on The Write Stuff site *"Secretary" is based on a story in*Bad Behavior**| another book by Gaitskill:*Because They Wanted to: Stories***

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We're in a phase where we no longer condemn movies for having a negative image. We're at a point where we can
explore the darker side of women's nature, and men's as well.

"Secretary" does it with humor. There's something exhilaratingly kinky about it and liberating.

Molly Haskell***[LA Times, Sep 27 2002] - author of From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies

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* pages related to themes and story elements in "Secretary" :

**cutting / self-injury***relationships***self-esteem / self concept***the shadow self****

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I guess I see the world through a sort of, you know . . . the sheer curtain of sensuality, maybe. That's probably why some of my films seem forthright or explicit or provocative. I'm interested in the disturbing compulsions, the curiosities that are going to kill the cat. ... The work that interests me has got to be foreign enough that I'm curious enough to get at it. I tend to not be drawn to things that are familiar. I like to travel, in more ways than one, get a little further from what might feel like home. And sexuality is something you can find your way in, even if it seems utterly foreign at first.  James Spader - about working in films such as "Sex, Lies and Videotape" and "Crash" [villagevoice.com Sept 11 - 17, 2002]

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Lately, the subject of sex has been so overdone in magazines, movies, television, music, and on the internet, that we've become a little -- dare we say it? -- bored with the topic. ...  We resent the fact that a hot babe has become the visual shorthand for sex, a convention that leaves most of us straight girls -- not to mention our gay brethren -- out of the equation. It's not that we object to being sex objects (although some of us do); it's just that we also want to be sex subjects. ... while it's true that we probably can't say anything about sex that hasn't already been said, we need to keep saying it -- in a woman's voice. excerpt of Editor's Letter by Debbie Stoller, BUST magazine, Fall 2002 << image from book: Pin-Up Dreams: The Glamour Art of Rolf Armstrong Bettie Page Dress-Up Magnet Set from the BUST magazine boobtique >>

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Venus***by Henri Pierre Picou [1824 - 1895] image from artrenewal.org

The Romans sincerely worshiped in Venus the spirit of sensuality, beauty and sex.  We fail to understand how these things can be spiritual, but that's our problem.  The Renaissance Christian theologians said Venus was a facet of divinity. Thomas Moore****[Spirituality & Health, Summer 2002] author of The Soul's Religion: Cultivating a Profoundly Spiritual Way of Life ...related page:...spirituality

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One purpose of this book is to debunk the myth that attractive women with sexy images have fabulous sex lives. The hype and glamour surrounding show business and the people in it reinforce that fiction. The parts an actor plays may have little to do with who she really is and how she feels.  Many of the roles I've played -- usually sexually aware, no-nonsense gals -- have had nothing to do with me or what my life is really like.  Quite frankly, these false images have, at times, interfered with my relationships and personal sexual satisfaction. ... The character of Samantha Jones [in "Sex and the City"] is a sexually free spirit who goes from man to man in an endless search for the right one.  Many women say they would like to be more like Samantha, because she has a large sexual appetite and does what she wants in the bedroom. Many men see Samantha as the ideal date for the same reason.

In real life, people want great sex as part of something more substantial: a partnership that comprises love, caring, and support, and provides avenues for growth and fulfillment on many different levels. ... I turned forty. I'd gone through two decades of unsatisfactory sexual relationships.  I had convinced myself that I just wasn't a sexual woman, and like my mother before me, I began to feel that sex really wasn't that important. ...  Then, in January of 1998, I met my husband, Mark. Since then, I have learned many things about communication, sexuality, and honesty. Kim Cattrall***[twbookmark.com] *Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm  ********by Kim Cattrall, Mark Levinson

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Toni Bentley.. spent 10 years with George Balanchine's New York City Ballet. ... [She] became fascinated with striptease when she saw her first show at the Crazy Horse -- and made a connection between stripping and ballet.  "I experienced an astonishing moment of self-recognition," she writes in her new book. "This glamorous, slim, athletic woman was a Balanchine dancer without her leotard -- and I was she." The worlds come together in "Sisters of Salome," her history of modern striptease told in four profiles. "The striptease at the Crazy Horse gave new meaning to my years spent in tights, tutus and tiaras," Bentley writes. "Partial, simulated, decorated, and disguised nudity is part of the appeal of a ballerina. Ballet wear is theatrical underwear -- silk, satin, velvet and chiffon their common coverings. Stilettos are toe shoes with a stabilizing training heel; both elongate the female leg to its erotic pinnacle. What are boned tutu bodices but skintight corsets and push-up bras? What are pink tights but warm naked legs?"  [from article: She's Ready for Take Off - An ex-ballerina discovers a bold sense of sexuality and power in the art of striptease by Louise Roug, LA Times, Aug. 7 2002] *Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley //  ballet dancers photo from book:*American Ballet Theatre **photo of Bentley from her site tonibentley.com

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Amy Brenneman was anything but celibate in her past.  "As a young actress, I travelled with a theatre company. I used to make do with what was available in the towns we visited." Brenneman says it is her checkered past that gave her the insights for her character in the bleak relationship drama Your Friends & Neighbors.  She plays Mary, whose husband (Aaron Eckhart) is struggling with a bout of impotence. In her frustration, she turns to two of her husband's best friends (Jason Patric and Ben Stiller). "Mary loves her husband, but she also wants to be satisfied sexually. Only when that becomes impossible does she turn to someone else. I stayed in a relationship two years too long before I could tell the guy that I wanted out. We were both too nice. I was unfaithful to him because I needed a life." Brenneman says "women want to be seen, heard and satisfied. We no longer want to live like our mothers did."    [Calgary Sun, September 18, 1999]

...related page:...relationships

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.. .. Well I don't know why other people do it, I mean I can imagine, but for me the real reason why I've been doing the photo shoots and playing roles that are more sexualized is not because I'm trying to create an image but because that's who I am now.  I'm a late bloomer. I look at pictures of myself from when I was 20, and I really didn't have a clue yet.  I'm so much more comfortable with my sexuality, and I don't feel like I've done anything that really exploits it; I mean, even when I did the cover of Stuff, I didn't wear the things that they wanted me to wear.

[What's the relationship between work and your actual sexuality?  How much of you goes into it, and how much of it goes into you?  Do you walk away from that feeling like a more sexual person?] I think that it's worked in both ways, honestly. It was about two years ago that I started feeling really comfortable with my sexuality.  And it's worked both ways in the photo shoots, which in turn made it easier when I went into meetings for roles where the people who were making those projects wanted to see me in that way, to see me the way that I already saw myself.  But it was never a charted out thought on my part to say "OK, I've gotta get sexy." I think I just finally got with it.  Alicia Witt **,,[Interview mag., Feb. 2001] [photo: stuffmagazine.com]

...related page:...self-esteem / self concept

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Jennifer Lopez has delighted the readers of men's magazine FHM by agreeing to her most revealing photo spread ever. ... a thank you for being voted the magazine's Sexiest Woman in the World for two successive years. ... She says, "Any woman who says she doesn't like being called sexy... it's so not true. It's the most flattering thing in the world."  [imdb.com Celebrity News: 5th February 2002] *photo from biography: Jennifer Lopez by Patricia J. Duncan  [Bilingue: Espanol E Ingles]

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Staunchly Catholic Hollywood actor Jim Caviezel refused to strip off for a sex scene with beautiful actress Ashley Judd. The 33-year-old star threatened to walk out unless director Carl Franklin shot the scene for thriller High Crimes with both parties wearing clothes.  He says, "I told Carl, 'It's no problem, I don't have to do this movie. Go ahead and find someone else.' I see our culture as not respecting people too much, treating people like objects. There are times where sex is appropriate, but I've yet to see butts and breasts act themselves out of a scene." It's not the first time Caviezel has refused to get naked for scenes with beautiful co-stars. He refused to film a love scene with sexy Jennifer Lopez in Angel Eyes because she was topless and asked rising star Dagmara Domincyzk to cover her nipples while shooting The Count Of Monte Cristo. The married star says, "My acting stems from inside, from God. And that's the only way I can act. If I violate that, then I don't think I'd be around this business much longer."**[imdb.com celeb news 4.10.02]

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Adrienne Shelley, star of Sudden Manhattan, says: "I got a call in my car on my way to an audition from my agent. He said, 'The important thing is that they think you are beddable.' "I go in and there are two women. They are very nice to me. A man walks in and all he does is look right at my tits. I saw in his face that there was no way I was going to get this part because he didn't like my tits. In the real world I wouldn't give him the time of day." from documentary "Searching For Debra Winger" - directed by Rosanna Arquette; quotes from The Sydney Morning Herald, May 18 2002 [smh.com.au]

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David helped bring me out of my shell. My spirit had been broken a bit over the years by my having to work on films I didn't love. Hollywood's a surreal place, and it really is an assault on your spirit. David saw me for myself and was OK with my self-doubts.  And I gave him the part of myself I felt I'd been hiding for so long, that didn't need to be hidden. But he's an artist and he knows that creativity, humor and sexuality all come out of a dark place."  ** *****Naomi Watts -   about working with director David Lynch on "Mulholland Drive"

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**related page:**the shadow self ~ ~ ~ ~

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