When it comes to sex and desire, women are screwed.
In film, on the page, in fashion, and in everyday life, women's desire
is routinely shown as subordinate to men's -- when it isn't suppressed
altogether. Lili Boisvert argues that there is one dominant principle
behind heterosexual encounters: that desire is a male phenomenon and
women are merely its object. To change this alienating system, she
contends, we must start by facing it head-on.
From clothing to flirting, from our fascination with youth and innocence
to the orgasm gap, every aspect of women's lives is dictated by their
status as sex objects. Is it any wonder that they are feeling sexually
unfulfilled? In a series of explorations of what desire looks like under
patriarchy, Screwed sketches the contours of what could be true sexual
liberation for women, inside -- and outside -- the bedroom.