If you missed the other two parts of An A-Z of the Noughties you can catch up here with A-G and H-O.
P is for…
Paedophilia – abuse of children is sadly not new. In the noughties, however, our concern over child abuse (particularly in Western countries) reached fever pitch. With speculations in the media to find ‘paedos’ and communities seeking out sex offenders, it created a fear of those who might harm children – particularly strangers. While child sex abuse is undoubtedly a worry, equally worrying has been the development across this decade towards what’s been dubbed ‘helicopter parenting’ and anxiety over child nudity. Parents are right to be concerned about protecting their children, but the hysterical approach to paedophilia promoted by the mainstream media (particularly the tabloid press) made it virtually impossible to discuss this issue in ways that might inform and reassure parents. It also made it very difficult to research. And sadly, in spite of all the press attention and public outcry against sex offenders, the levels of physical, emotional and sexual abuse faced by children remained shockingly high internationally.
Porn – it was a weird decade for porn. Undoubtedly porn changed given our access to different media and the ability to create and share images cheaply and easily. Those who make porn complained the content and variety was becoming samey and concerns were expressed over the fair treatment of performers and exploitation of those involved in making and sharing images online. We saw a shift in seeing porn directly linked to sexual violence (although some still hold that view) to associating it with ‘sex addiction’. But we also heard from women making porn and women enjoying it – something that’s been steadily growing across the decade. No doubt porn continues to have problems in terms of content, production and distribution and the past decade wasn’t particularly welcoming of critical reflection and research on this issue. Some countries and states worked to ban particular images – particularly of ‘extreme porn’ and parents were made anxious that all their teens are actively enjoying ‘two girls one cup’ (crikey when I was a teen they only had to worry about a pirate copy of ‘animal farm’!). We embraced and decried pornography in this decade, but this was also the era in which more of us than ever before got to see – and choose – porn. Including people making and sharing their own sexual images online, with the increased availability of camera phones or film making equipment. For some it was liberating, for others it created anxiety and insecurities, for still more it was a contributing factor to relationship problems, and others just used it for pleasure or inspiration. One casualty of the decade was print media porn, which although it still exists is in decline.
PR surveys – these have been the bane of sex research over the past decade and have done lots of harm to the public understanding of sex. Admittedly they’re not confined to just sex topics, but where they address sex they are a menace. The main one all journalists use is the Durex Global Sex Survey, but the general approach within PR is if you want a product promoted do a sex survey and you’ll get some press coverage. Who cares if it misleads the public or makes them more anxious? (For the record, if you want to find kosher sex surveys – or any kind of sex research, swap your standard google search for this)
Prostitution – we saw a variety of approaches taken to this issue globally in the past decade. New Zealand legalised prostitution, while Sweden clamped down on sale and purchase. In the UK we had a hideously long consultation on the issue, characterised by poor research, inflating trafficking statistics, and ignoring scientific evidence. Blogs, forums, websites and social media allowed sex workers and their allies to work more closely together and expose bad practice – and reminded us that prostitutes are not always female. But this did not necessarily challenge or change poor research, political decisions, or policing. Nevertheless networks established within the noughties look set to continue to grow within the next decade and the voice of sex workers is undoubtedly growing. Rightly so.
Q is for…
Quantity not quality – the friend of aspirational sex (see previously in this A-Z review), this trend came mostly from media sex coverage where ‘good’ sex was defined as ‘lots of sex’ (partly due to the media’s fixation with ‘statistics’ in this decade). While kosher sex research (and education) focuses on what you do and whether you enjoy it over and above how much you do it, the general view for the noughties was we all ought to be doing it – a lot.
R is for…
Research – we’ve seen plenty of sex research published over the past decade – both good and bad. A large proportion of it has been drug company funded (see medicalisation above), but we have noticed a shift towards promoting the science of sex through blogs, the media and academia. And particularly challenging bad sex science through blogs and forums, and developing new methodologies to enable us to discover more about people’s sex lives.
S is for…
‘Sexperts’ – this was the decade where anyone could set themselves up as a ‘sexpert’ and be promoted via their blog, website, or other media outlet as someone who knew all about sex. Characterised as often being high profile (and frequently a celebrity in their own right) their advice was for the most part mundane, outdated, not evidence based and usually a list of what they liked rather than a guide for the rest of us. The noughties also brought us a great range of quality educators providing excellent information, but sadly the most popular promoters of sex to the public throughout the decade were not the most qualified, but those who were most willing to say what journalists wanted in return for a plug for their book, sex toy, or other product.
Sexualisation – a phrase coined towards the end of the decade, this referred to the shift within our sexual climate where sexual imagery was now intertwined with popular culture (music, fashion, media) and consumerism. It was raised as a problem issue for the psychosexual development of young people particularly, given they were growing up without adequate sex education but with huge amounts of other sexual content elsewhere in their lives – and little or no life skills to make sense of this. Concerns were raised that our sexualised and commercial culture was not liberating us, but was making us more anxious and increasing peer pressure.
Superfoods – who’d have thought we’d fall for these in this decade? And yet we did. From goji berries to pumpkin seeds we were convinced by various ‘sexperts’ (see above) and nutritionists that our sex lives could be instantly improved simply by adding a particular food to our diet. Of course there’s no evidence for superfoods transforming our sex lives but if you’d read the recipes, diets and fruit smoothy promotions served up in the media you’d be forgiven for believing they really do work.
Swinging – which underwent a massive rebranding in the noughties. Previously described in the media either as a means of sexual exploration, or more frequently as something enjoyed by dubious men (and their put upon wives) we saw a major shift in the noughties where swinging suddenly became cool. This was partly due to efforts by swingers to improve their image, and partly due to some swingers groups making their parties more ‘elite’. The media at this point got interested – after all swinging must be worth discussing if glamorous people did it wearing just their Louboutins. Some groups played upon this, specifically stating you could only attend their upmarket parties if you were aged under 40, were under a size 14 and were vetted for attractiveness by a panel. Which led to more established swingers groups protesting this had lost the spirit of sharing and adventure that had originally underpinned swinging. It did lead to more opportunities to talk about open relationships, although still with difficulty as the media had a habit during this decade of lumping together dogging, swinging, threesomes and open relationships.
T is for…
Toys – undoubtedly the noughties was the decade when we had more toys to play with than ever before. Which have provided opportunities for us to explore pleasure and tapped into the consumerist and aspirational view of sex that’s characterised the past ten years.
Transphobia – something that’s not really been resolved this decade is transphobia. Although discrimination against trans people is not new, this decade saw numerous and very ugly debates around the issue, including the work of J Michael Bailey (defended by Alice Dreger) with much opposition from the trans community and their allies. Or debates between feminist groups around the acceptance of trans women. All of which were unpleasant and did little to reassure trans folk about acceptance or tolerance. In a decade which was supposed to be about freedom and rights it’s sad to see the high level of prejudice and ignorance still present on this issue.
U is for…
Unprotected sex – despite the improvement of condom quality and availability the level of unprotected sex remained high in the UK (and many other countries) which explains why STI rates (including HIV) have continued to rise in many countries. Reasons for this have included a lack of compulsory and consistently delivered high quality sex education; resistance to using condoms; a lack of awareness on how to use them (and where to get them from); a belief that you can’t get an STI from someone who you fancy/who looks nice; young women’s anxieties and lack of confidence on negotiating condom use and peer pressure on lads not to use them; plus a focus among young people on preventing pregnancy with contraception – but not thinking about STIs. Alcohol and drug use has also played a part. We can categorise the noughties as the one where we probably knew we should have rubbered up, but we still didn’t.
V is for…
Vaginaplasty – reconstructing the vagina has proved popular throughout this decade with plastic surgeons offering labiaplasty, g shot collagen enhancers, and vaginal tightening all as a means of improving women’s sexual experience. Despite there being no evidence these invasive procedures do enhance female sexual functioning the media has for the most part taken a non critical stance on this issue. And if you thought this was a noughties phenomena it’s worth noting this is an area of private medicine that looks set to continue. Here’s a sneaky peek at a forthcoming conference on this very subject.
Vampires – at the close of the decade we revived our interested in the erotic potential of the undead. Most popular in this genre was the Twilight phenomena, closely followed by True Blood and The Vampire Diaries. All were concerned with subplots of desire, attraction, danger and anticipation, they proved spellbinding for teens and adults alike.
W is for…
Waxing – we couldn’t agree in this decade what we wanted to do about pubic hair. For much of the noughties we witnessed a growing trend promoting bikini waxing – with the Hollywood and Brazilian (terms which became household names in this decade). Linked to fashion, porn and commercialised sex, the trend was welcomed by some as a means to spice up sex; while others saw it as a means of infantilising women; or were concerned that young people were developing the attitude that genital hair (particularly on women) was dirty or unhygienic. And bizarrely towards the close of the decade we saw the media deciding on an about face on the pubic hair debate – now seeing advice on shaving as problematic.
X is for…
X2K – that’s the acronym we set up at the beginning of the decade to describe the sex we were going to have. It sounded kinda catchy. I wonder if our sex lives measured up?
Y is for…
Youth issues – the noughties brought us plenty of challenges for young people, with many countries struggling to tackle rising levels of teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections in the under 25s, and issues over coercion and peer pressure. Parents were made anxious by media coverage that switched between blaming, sexualising and fear mongering over teen behaviour. In particular we saw press coverage that overhyped the level of sexual activity engaged in by young people and told parents that teens were all Sxting, daisy chaining or wearing shag bands. Unfortunately often supported by dubious and unethical research. Meanwhile we did little to address quality sex education, or provide adequate resources for young people in the form of after school clubs or activities that might build confidence and give them something to do.
Z is for…
Zoo magazine – men’s media changed within the noughties. Having enjoyed a heyday within the 90s with lifestyle magazines like Loaded and Maxim, the popularity of such titles dwindled during the last decade. However, we saw a major shift in the format of men’s media – particularly that aimed at young men. The launch of Zoo and Nuts in the mid noughties provided a weekly mix of girls, sport, girls, a bit of news, girls, some gory photos or a story about crime, and girls. Critics complained about the approach taken by the magazines towards sexual health messaging and negative portrayal of women for example here and here. It remains unclear whether young men have been influenced psychosexually by the magazines. Meanwhile the titles continue to fight for popularity within a struggling market.
So, that’s the end of our review of the last decade. Did I fit everything in? Did I forget anything? Recall anything differently to your experience? Let me know if there were any key issues I missed out and I’ll add them to this list.
And here’s looking forward to the next ten years – I wonder what we’ll be doing?
An A-Z of sex in the noughties – Part 3 (P-Z)
If you missed the other two parts of An A-Z of the Noughties you can catch up here with A-G and H-O.
P is for…
Paedophilia – abuse of children is sadly not new. In the noughties, however, our concern over child abuse (particularly in Western countries) reached fever pitch. With speculations in the media to find ‘paedos’ and communities seeking out sex offenders, it created a fear of those who might harm children – particularly strangers. While child sex abuse is undoubtedly a worry, equally worrying has been the development across this decade towards what’s been dubbed ‘helicopter parenting’ and anxiety over child nudity. Parents are right to be concerned about protecting their children, but the hysterical approach to paedophilia promoted by the mainstream media (particularly the tabloid press) made it virtually impossible to discuss this issue in ways that might inform and reassure parents. It also made it very difficult to research. And sadly, in spite of all the press attention and public outcry against sex offenders, the levels of physical, emotional and sexual abuse faced by children remained shockingly high internationally.
Porn – it was a weird decade for porn. Undoubtedly porn changed given our access to different media and the ability to create and share images cheaply and easily. Those who make porn complained the content and variety was becoming samey and concerns were expressed over the fair treatment of performers and exploitation of those involved in making and sharing images online. We saw a shift in seeing porn directly linked to sexual violence (although some still hold that view) to associating it with ‘sex addiction’. But we also heard from women making porn and women enjoying it – something that’s been steadily growing across the decade. No doubt porn continues to have problems in terms of content, production and distribution and the past decade wasn’t particularly welcoming of critical reflection and research on this issue. Some countries and states worked to ban particular images – particularly of ‘extreme porn’ and parents were made anxious that all their teens are actively enjoying ‘two girls one cup’ (crikey when I was a teen they only had to worry about a pirate copy of ‘animal farm’!). We embraced and decried pornography in this decade, but this was also the era in which more of us than ever before got to see – and choose – porn. Including people making and sharing their own sexual images online, with the increased availability of camera phones or film making equipment. For some it was liberating, for others it created anxiety and insecurities, for still more it was a contributing factor to relationship problems, and others just used it for pleasure or inspiration. One casualty of the decade was print media porn, which although it still exists is in decline.
PR surveys – these have been the bane of sex research over the past decade and have done lots of harm to the public understanding of sex. Admittedly they’re not confined to just sex topics, but where they address sex they are a menace. The main one all journalists use is the Durex Global Sex Survey, but the general approach within PR is if you want a product promoted do a sex survey and you’ll get some press coverage. Who cares if it misleads the public or makes them more anxious? (For the record, if you want to find kosher sex surveys – or any kind of sex research, swap your standard google search for this)
Prostitution – we saw a variety of approaches taken to this issue globally in the past decade. New Zealand legalised prostitution, while Sweden clamped down on sale and purchase. In the UK we had a hideously long consultation on the issue, characterised by poor research, inflating trafficking statistics, and ignoring scientific evidence. Blogs, forums, websites and social media allowed sex workers and their allies to work more closely together and expose bad practice – and reminded us that prostitutes are not always female. But this did not necessarily challenge or change poor research, political decisions, or policing. Nevertheless networks established within the noughties look set to continue to grow within the next decade and the voice of sex workers is undoubtedly growing. Rightly so.
Q is for…
Quantity not quality – the friend of aspirational sex (see previously in this A-Z review), this trend came mostly from media sex coverage where ‘good’ sex was defined as ‘lots of sex’ (partly due to the media’s fixation with ‘statistics’ in this decade). While kosher sex research (and education) focuses on what you do and whether you enjoy it over and above how much you do it, the general view for the noughties was we all ought to be doing it – a lot.
R is for…
Research – we’ve seen plenty of sex research published over the past decade – both good and bad. A large proportion of it has been drug company funded (see medicalisation above), but we have noticed a shift towards promoting the science of sex through blogs, the media and academia. And particularly challenging bad sex science through blogs and forums, and developing new methodologies to enable us to discover more about people’s sex lives.
S is for…
‘Sexperts’ – this was the decade where anyone could set themselves up as a ‘sexpert’ and be promoted via their blog, website, or other media outlet as someone who knew all about sex. Characterised as often being high profile (and frequently a celebrity in their own right) their advice was for the most part mundane, outdated, not evidence based and usually a list of what they liked rather than a guide for the rest of us. The noughties also brought us a great range of quality educators providing excellent information, but sadly the most popular promoters of sex to the public throughout the decade were not the most qualified, but those who were most willing to say what journalists wanted in return for a plug for their book, sex toy, or other product.
Sexualisation – a phrase coined towards the end of the decade, this referred to the shift within our sexual climate where sexual imagery was now intertwined with popular culture (music, fashion, media) and consumerism. It was raised as a problem issue for the psychosexual development of young people particularly, given they were growing up without adequate sex education but with huge amounts of other sexual content elsewhere in their lives – and little or no life skills to make sense of this. Concerns were raised that our sexualised and commercial culture was not liberating us, but was making us more anxious and increasing peer pressure.
Superfoods – who’d have thought we’d fall for these in this decade? And yet we did. From goji berries to pumpkin seeds we were convinced by various ‘sexperts’ (see above) and nutritionists that our sex lives could be instantly improved simply by adding a particular food to our diet. Of course there’s no evidence for superfoods transforming our sex lives but if you’d read the recipes, diets and fruit smoothy promotions served up in the media you’d be forgiven for believing they really do work.
Swinging – which underwent a massive rebranding in the noughties. Previously described in the media either as a means of sexual exploration, or more frequently as something enjoyed by dubious men (and their put upon wives) we saw a major shift in the noughties where swinging suddenly became cool. This was partly due to efforts by swingers to improve their image, and partly due to some swingers groups making their parties more ‘elite’. The media at this point got interested – after all swinging must be worth discussing if glamorous people did it wearing just their Louboutins. Some groups played upon this, specifically stating you could only attend their upmarket parties if you were aged under 40, were under a size 14 and were vetted for attractiveness by a panel. Which led to more established swingers groups protesting this had lost the spirit of sharing and adventure that had originally underpinned swinging. It did lead to more opportunities to talk about open relationships, although still with difficulty as the media had a habit during this decade of lumping together dogging, swinging, threesomes and open relationships.
T is for…
Toys – undoubtedly the noughties was the decade when we had more toys to play with than ever before. Which have provided opportunities for us to explore pleasure and tapped into the consumerist and aspirational view of sex that’s characterised the past ten years.
Transphobia – something that’s not really been resolved this decade is transphobia. Although discrimination against trans people is not new, this decade saw numerous and very ugly debates around the issue, including the work of J Michael Bailey (defended by Alice Dreger) with much opposition from the trans community and their allies. Or debates between feminist groups around the acceptance of trans women. All of which were unpleasant and did little to reassure trans folk about acceptance or tolerance. In a decade which was supposed to be about freedom and rights it’s sad to see the high level of prejudice and ignorance still present on this issue.
U is for…
Unprotected sex – despite the improvement of condom quality and availability the level of unprotected sex remained high in the UK (and many other countries) which explains why STI rates (including HIV) have continued to rise in many countries. Reasons for this have included a lack of compulsory and consistently delivered high quality sex education; resistance to using condoms; a lack of awareness on how to use them (and where to get them from); a belief that you can’t get an STI from someone who you fancy/who looks nice; young women’s anxieties and lack of confidence on negotiating condom use and peer pressure on lads not to use them; plus a focus among young people on preventing pregnancy with contraception – but not thinking about STIs. Alcohol and drug use has also played a part. We can categorise the noughties as the one where we probably knew we should have rubbered up, but we still didn’t.
V is for…
Vaginaplasty – reconstructing the vagina has proved popular throughout this decade with plastic surgeons offering labiaplasty, g shot collagen enhancers, and vaginal tightening all as a means of improving women’s sexual experience. Despite there being no evidence these invasive procedures do enhance female sexual functioning the media has for the most part taken a non critical stance on this issue. And if you thought this was a noughties phenomena it’s worth noting this is an area of private medicine that looks set to continue. Here’s a sneaky peek at a forthcoming conference on this very subject.
Vampires – at the close of the decade we revived our interested in the erotic potential of the undead. Most popular in this genre was the Twilight phenomena, closely followed by True Blood and The Vampire Diaries. All were concerned with subplots of desire, attraction, danger and anticipation, they proved spellbinding for teens and adults alike.
W is for…
Waxing – we couldn’t agree in this decade what we wanted to do about pubic hair. For much of the noughties we witnessed a growing trend promoting bikini waxing – with the Hollywood and Brazilian (terms which became household names in this decade). Linked to fashion, porn and commercialised sex, the trend was welcomed by some as a means to spice up sex; while others saw it as a means of infantilising women; or were concerned that young people were developing the attitude that genital hair (particularly on women) was dirty or unhygienic. And bizarrely towards the close of the decade we saw the media deciding on an about face on the pubic hair debate – now seeing advice on shaving as problematic.
X is for…
X2K – that’s the acronym we set up at the beginning of the decade to describe the sex we were going to have. It sounded kinda catchy. I wonder if our sex lives measured up?
Y is for…
Youth issues – the noughties brought us plenty of challenges for young people, with many countries struggling to tackle rising levels of teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections in the under 25s, and issues over coercion and peer pressure. Parents were made anxious by media coverage that switched between blaming, sexualising and fear mongering over teen behaviour. In particular we saw press coverage that overhyped the level of sexual activity engaged in by young people and told parents that teens were all Sxting, daisy chaining or wearing shag bands. Unfortunately often supported by dubious and unethical research. Meanwhile we did little to address quality sex education, or provide adequate resources for young people in the form of after school clubs or activities that might build confidence and give them something to do.
Z is for…
Zoo magazine – men’s media changed within the noughties. Having enjoyed a heyday within the 90s with lifestyle magazines like Loaded and Maxim, the popularity of such titles dwindled during the last decade. However, we saw a major shift in the format of men’s media – particularly that aimed at young men. The launch of Zoo and Nuts in the mid noughties provided a weekly mix of girls, sport, girls, a bit of news, girls, some gory photos or a story about crime, and girls. Critics complained about the approach taken by the magazines towards sexual health messaging and negative portrayal of women for example here and here. It remains unclear whether young men have been influenced psychosexually by the magazines. Meanwhile the titles continue to fight for popularity within a struggling market.
So, that’s the end of our review of the last decade. Did I fit everything in? Did I forget anything? Recall anything differently to your experience? Let me know if there were any key issues I missed out and I’ll add them to this list.
And here’s looking forward to the next ten years – I wonder what we’ll be doing?
An A-Z of sex in the noughties – Part 3 (P-Z)Related posts