Sucker Punch is an extremely underrated movie. At first glance this movie comes off as trashy, and sexist. It just looked like some nerdy male fantasy that I didn’t want to contribute to. But somehow the film got in my hands, and I was shocked that I actually liked it. The story was good, the plot was interesting, and it even had a theme. The film taught me that women’s sexuality gives them power. And all the men Said "Well DUH". Now as someone who spends way too much time in her head and not in the real world.
Sexiness is something I have never really cared about. Women’s sexuality being seen as a strength may be old news to other people, but recently I found it fascinating how powerful femininity actually is, and how our culture really wants to eradicate it because it's seen as a weakness, or a social construct. To an extent I do see it as a social construct especially for women like me who are at the far end of the feminine spectrum, which doesn't change my gender by the way. Just because I don’t wear fake lashes and nails on my doesn’t make me less of a woman. Putting acrylic on my fingers for me is like putting shoes on a cat. I’m very low maintenance. I am only just discovering the power my femininity holds, and I’m liking it. I have learned that it’s only a weakness if you don’t know how to use it. A woman who doesn’t know how to be sexy, can be equal to a man who doesn’t know how to fight. Let me explain.
A sexy man is very tempting, but their looks aren't at the top of what makes them desirable, at least for women. This is why you don't find women at a strip club by themselves. It is seen as a group activity, not a guilty pleasure you do alone. We know that most men's weakness is a woman. Her display of sexiness can render a man powerless. The fact that sucker punch has the main character go into a fantasy world where she fights off monsters, when in reality she is actually just doing a sexy dance makes the theme of this story very clear. That a Woman’s sexuality is a weapon.
The protagonist nicknamed Baby doll is put in a situation where all of her freedom is stripped away. She is taken to a mental health asylum to be lobotomized by her abuser to cover up his abuse. To better cope, Baby doll imagines that the asylum is a gentlemen's club where she and her fellow patients are dancers and the male staff are clients paying to be enticed. Sexuality for Baby Doll is at first intimidating because it’s only been a place of violation; however, she quickly learns that it is the only thing she has giving her any chance of survival. So, without any dance experience, Baby doll taps into her sexuality out of survival instinct as a way to overthrow her oppressor. It wows everyone, making it hard for the club owner, and any other men to look away. We never see the actual dance. Instead, we see a battlefield riddled with fantastical monsters and foreign enemies. If dancing sexy is equal to physical combat for Baby doll, what kind of damage can that really do? Well, it captures the attention and awe of her oppressors, taking control of them.
In most cultures surrounding sex work, dancing is used as an advertisement for sex. From geishas, to belly dancers, from India to the USA. Dance has been used as a way to lure men in to spending money on their sexual desires.To survive in different circumstances, a woman has her body to offer up sexually, like a man who would offer his body in violence. A poor girl may turn to strip clubs, or be an escort, while a poor guy, may turn to gang violence or in war. Your body is all you really have at birth, no one gives it to you as an inheritance. Yes, men can be prostitutes and women can be soldiers. Yet there isn’t the same demand for male sex workers as there are for women, and all countries at war demand men to die on the battlefield.
Our bodies are one of the oldest tools we have used as a means of survival. You can invest in making yourself more attractive or strong to be more valuable. You could probably say being sexy is a primitive skill to have, because everyone has access to it, and just like fighting, some are naturally better at being sexy than others. Being sexy isn’t necessarily about being pretty, it’s more of a mindset. I’ve heard plenty of stories of men leaving a beautiful woman for a less attractive woman. So, it’s not necessarily about being pretty, although it plays a big role in being sexy.
Now this is going to sound offensive for the men and women of this generation. But hear me out because I’m going to get very real. Here is your warning. Living by this principle of sexuality being your weapon outside of survival is very foolish. It’s a disservice to other women, and yourself in the long road. Now do whatever you want, you have the choice to live your life how you please, but a life without boundaries for yourself makes for more of a destructive life. Sexuality holds less value as time progresses because beauty fades.
Sexuality is best used in satisfying yourself and the person you actually love. I know for some that came from an abusive past, this may be all you know of how to survive. You may not know life outside of manipulating people to just get by or being used just to feel wanted. After experiencing trauma, I can understand how difficult it is to see your sexuality the way it was intended and experience it in a healthy environment. If that’s the case, It’s important to seek help and pursue healing in order to move forward and experience sex the way it was created to be experienced. Because you’re worth it. The truth is although our sexuality is powerful, it should be revered. Think of a literal weapon, like a gun. You might carry it on you and let others see your ability to defend yourself. But you hopefully wouldn’t actually use it unless it meant life or death.
Just like a man who lives their life through “Violence” as a way to have power over others when they don’t have to, will lead to destruction, death, emptiness and loneliness. It’s the same for a woman who uses their sexuality unwisely. The consequences are not gender specific. They don’t change just because the woman is violent, and a man is promiscuous. You live by the sword; you die by the sword. The false Idea that women are truly free when they have sex like a stereotypical man may be true for some, but it is not true for most. You have more power in your sexuality when you withhold it from a man, allowing you to have the things you want from that relationship. It’s your God given power. But it only works when most women in a society practice the same values. Sex would no longer be easy to get, because a man has to prove that he is valuable to you since you have something valuable to him.
I know I will get a lot of flak for this, but it’s true. You can’t get mad if that is how nature made us. This is what makes humans different from animals. It’s our animal instinct to mate, but it's our human instinct to have a relationship. Friends with benefits sounds like a trick some man made up so he wouldn’t have to be committed to anyone. As long as a man uses his God given power of strength to take away your power of choice, there is no need to turn your femininity and sexuality into a weapon.
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