An Analysis of Male Sex Toys
This is a picture of Riley Reid, a famous porn actress, modeling with a Fleshlight. The Fleshlight is a stroker sex toy which has multiple different “textures”, each one being based on a different porn actress and supposedly mimicking their genitalia. This one in particular is described as follows:
She has two signature textures: Utopia and Euphoria. Utopia features a mold of Reid’s tight vagina, and this is one pocket pussy you won’t forget. The inside features a coiled design with dozens of pleasure pockets. The Riley Reid Fleshlight Euphoria model highlights Reid’s perky ass, and it will fulfill all of your deepest anal fantasies.
Here, we see misogyny and capital on full display, embodied in a single object. The actress’ body becomes a literal object (a sex toy) and at the same time becomes a commodity to be bought and sold. So we see that there is a connection between being an object of sex and an object of capital. Furthermore, there is a third dimension: living in a world where sex for (cis) men is a sign of social status (and having cis men be the target demographic), the actress also becomes an object of prestige.
These forms of objectification aren’t coincidental but instead are intimately linked. Capital spreads throughout the whole of society, eventually commodifying human beings themselves (we see the commodification of human beings in the sex industry, entertainment, politics, underground forms of trafficking, etc.). Similarly, the status of women as objects, things to be bought, sold, and exchanged, has existed long before the rise of capitalism. It has been the bed rock of every patriarchal society; however, it is precisely this subordinate status which allows for the unique capitalist exploitation of women.
We can also see how woman as object of prestige relates to the other two forces at play. In a world where prestige is sold to us daily, it is clear that women being a site of social status for men allows for male commodification.
How should we understand the existence of such an object? What can it tell us about the current world? Taking inspiration from the philosopher Jean Baudrillard, and in particular his book The Consumer Society, we can answer these questions. Using the framework of the book, we can see that the product embodies “sign-value” and gives a fantasized form of prestige which it then sells to its audience.
Baudrillard and the Sign
Today, all commodities function as signs. They signify something about the consumer, whether it is that they have attained a certain life-style, have a certain set of values, or whatever else. Whereas in previous times, the main functions of a product were its use-value and its exchange-value (what it could be used for and what it could be traded for, respectively), today the main function of all commodities is to display their sign value.
We can see this in all the forms of advertising based on demographic research, in the products which label themselves as “environmentally friendly”, in the advertisements for cars, makeup, deodorant, etc. which show the thing to be sold along with exotic animals, women models, and celebrities. Today, everything that you buy, from the car to the kitchen utensils, is sold primarily on the basis that it shows something about you, your life, your comfort, your values, your personality, and so on. This is main the function of all products with the increasingly diminishing importance and use and exchange-value.
For Baudrillard, the whole set of commodities exist as a series of signs meant to reinforce class divisions and form social cohesion. These signs differentiate between those who can afford and those who can not, those who are “cultured” and those who are not, those who have “knowledge” and those who do not. Establishing these divisions, products are then sold to the respective classes on the basis that they solidify one’s position.
The Sexual Fantasy
So the question becomes: How does the sex toy exist as sign? What does it signify? What promise does it give to the consumer?
The first thing to note is that the Fleshlight exists to fulfill a fantasy (the fantasy of having sex with the porn star). We can see this fantasy at work in how the product is advertised. If we take a look at the product description, we can see that it is fully equipped with information on Riley Reid, such as her birthday, her height, and her zodiac sign:
Reid was born in Miami, Florida, on July 9, 1991, making her a Cancer. She is of Puerto Rican, Dominican, Welsh, Irish, Dutch, and German descent. Reid has a Kanji tattoo that runs down the entire length of her spine. The Chinese¹ translation means, “When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade.” She’s 5’4” and weighs a petite 107lbs. Her measurements are 32A-25–36 — you’ll want to enjoy every curve and nuance of her tight little body while using her Fleshlight.
Obviously, this information has absolutely nothing to do with the Fleshlight. Nobody will be better able to use a Fleshlight because they know Riley Reid’s birthday or what the tattoo on her back says. Instead, this information exists so that the buyer identifies the porn star with the product, so that the sex toy “becomes” Riley Reid which then gives further reason for buying it².
We can see this identification at play in some of the comments:
I have excellent feeling with Riley Reid — Frederic P.
My sessions with Riley have been stunning — Chris W.
But, not only does the advertisement identify Riley with the sex toy, it also constructs Riley as a desiring subject. See this portion:
Riley Reid is very mindful of being noticed or catcalled when she’s in public. “I know he’s looking at my ass. Sometimes I turn and look just to see and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, she caught me.’ I’ve always been whistled at. I’ve always had cars honking. I would always kind of resent when a guy would look at me in a very vulgar way even though I’m very sexual. And now, I want the average gentleman walking down the street to check me out”.
So we see the construction of the fantasy. Riley is made to be a (desiring) object and at the same time is identified with the toy. The toy then sells the promise of holding the object in question, of having sex with Riley Reid, the Riley Reid whose secret is revealed, the Riley Reid who wants it. It’s that form of Riley which is so intimately tied to the Fleshlight and arouses desire in the target audience.
The Fantasy of Prestige
However, we can not separate the sexual fantasy from the fact that sex for men is a sign of social status. This is what is at the bottom of many men’s rampant pursuit of sex; they are told that it is a sign that they are wanted, desirable, that they are a “man”, and that they have “done masculinity correctly”. If men are obsessed with sex, it is because they live a world where the absence of it means they are not fully human. The pursuit of sex is experienced as an obligation for which there is no right to ignore.
So the sex toy does not only fill a sexual fantasy but also exists to fill a more profound fantasy: the fantasy of being desirable, of being able to attract somebody like the porn star, etc. It represents not only the act of sex but the life where that act is possible.
Conclusion
This is the crucial point: The product works by offering a fantasy which can never be fulfilled (at least, not by buying a Fleshlight). In the fashion of radical feminism, we can say that the product utilizes the male gaze to men’s own exploitation. In an odd way, the sexism inherent in the product turns back on the men looking and comes to oppress them.
This is how all commodities work today; producing desire in their subjects, they come with the promise that buying them will fulfill the very desire they produced. Whether it is the promise of happiness, beauty, sex, or comfort, the commodity says that it will give it all so long as you buy it. But, it can never actually keep its promise because to do so would mean you no longer have to buy.
In the sexual realm, there are plenty of products similar to the Fleshlight: pills to increase one’s penis size, cologne, medicine to increase testosterone, etc. All of these are sold with the promise that they will usher in the heaven of hegemonic masculinity.
But the truth is there is no heaven, and those who have crossed over to the afterlife know there is nothing but hell on earth. That is the consumer society.
Footnotes
[1] Kanji is Japanese, not Chinese.
[2] At this point, it’s important to clarify something: I am not saying that the buyers of this product have a conscious psychological identification with the Fleshlight and Riley Reid. Of course, if you asked the people who made these comments, they would say they are fully aware these are different things and that their comments were only a “manner of speaking”.
But it’s that “manner of speaking” which is important; on an unconscious and social level, we act as if they are the same thing, and it’s precisely that “acting-as-if” that lends to the objectification of the porn star.
References
Jean Baudrillard, The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. Sage Publications. 1999.
:)
