How has "Porn Chic" Infiltrated the Women's Fashion Industry in Media and Advertising?
- nora comtois
- May 29
- 7 min read
During the second-wave feminist movement in the 1960s, women argued for sexual liberation. Ironically, there has been the shift from females being sexually repressed to the new issue of females being oversexualized. Since streaming services made pornography available in the home, women have continued to be perpetuated as sex symbols within the media/advertising — one of these ways is through fashion as women are depicted in the “porn chic” style which emulates pinup girls and glamour models who are inspired by the sex industry.
The 1970’s was an era of cinematic pornography after the film Deep Throat premiered; in the 1980s, streaming services made pornography available in the home (Hall-Araujo). As more men watched porn, the more the male gaze was perpetuated and thus, the more women were viewed as sex symbols. Since then, there has only been more sexualization and objectification of women in the mainstream media.
Playboy was one of the first forms of media/advertising to brand the sexualization of women. For over half a century, Playboy released issues which continued to depict women in sexy garments — or the lack thereof. Advertising the magazine as “Entertainment for Men” and “styled to the masculine taste,” Playboy promoted the idea of men objectifying women (Playboy). In this issue, besides satirical articles about adultery and love affairs with photos of naked or almost-naked women, for the first “Sweetheart of the Month” — a special which features a “pinup” in each issue — there is an article specifically commenting on Marilyn Monroe’s body followed by a nude photo of her (Playboy). In fact, Monroe did not consent to her photos being published in the magazine which only reinforces that disrespecting women’s bodies was becoming normalized (Hincks). For over half a century, Playboy released issues like this.
In her book Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful Cultural Practices in the West, Sheila Jeffreys says, “the values of pornography, and its practices, extended outward from magazines and movies to become the dominating values of fashion and beauty advertising and the advertising of many other products and services” (Jeffreys). Researchers from Wesleyan University found that half of nearly two-thousand ads from fifty well known American magazines depict women as sex objects (Melker). Over the past three decades, sexual ads appearing in magazines have increased from fifteen to twenty-seven percent (Sorrow). In a recent study of Seventeen magazine issues, researchers found that the “sexualizing characteristics” tripled during that time frame (Melker). Making up ninety-two percent, in particular, it was the fashion/beauty ads (Sorrow). Perfume ads especially are the ones that hypersexualize the women portrayed; they “...have very little to do with the perfume itself, they don't describe the scent and they give very little information about the perfume other than its name. Instead these adverts depend on the objectification, and sexualisation of the actors in their adverts to entice buyers” (@laurelnisbet). Sexualizing traits include “...body parts shown, body pose, facial expression, activity, camera angle and clothing” (Melker).
It’s with the depiction of fashion within these ads especially that there is becoming less of a distinction between ‘sex positivity’ and ‘objectification.’ Like in the study of Seventeen issues, specifically “...depictions of low-cut tops and tight fitting clothing increased” in terms of sexualizing characteristics (Melker). In contemporary media and advertising, there is a fashion culture called “porn chic” — a “...term that includes fashions and related trend-based behaviors linked to the porn industry that have now become mainstreamed and are widely viewed as normal…particularly among young and urban population groups” (Katz). In this style, young women are depicted in styles inspired by pinup girls and glamour models, very much inspired by the sex industry. The difference “...is as striking as it is between an artistic act and porn” (Nemcova).
An example is an ad for high-end fashion brand Dolce and Gabbana’s 2007 spring/summer ready-to-wear clothing collection. The ad was banned from Italian publications, but it resurfaced in 2015 when the brand was facing backlash for another issue (UK). The ad was under scrutiny for showing a “simulated gang rape.” It depicts a woman lying on the floor as she arches her back while four men appear dominating around her; one of the men is pinning the woman down with his hand. Although other characteristics in the ad imply this BDSM-esque situation — like the intense eye contact from the men and of course the gestures — specifically, the fashion sexualizes the situation and objectifies the woman. The four men are half-dressed with the woman specifically only wearing a black swimsuit with black high heels. Black is often viewed as a “sexy color” because of its association with the femme fatale style, and high heels are often viewed as a symbol of female eroticism (Lornemark).
In her book Hypersexual City: The Provocation of Soft-Core Urbanism, Author Nicole Kalms identifies that, including magazines, there are “...four interrelated media: the hypersexualised advertising photography; the activation of hypersexualised ‘promotional’ salespersons; hypersexualised social media; and the press media coverage generated by the controversial campaign – all operating across the mediascape” (Kalms). In other forms of this media/advertising, female celebrities and influencers are the ones shown in this “porn chic” style in order to gain more attention for the company. In the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (started by men), the confident, sexually-empowered women who are shown to embrace her sexuality by means of wearing provocative, BDSM-core lingerie are both models who became famous sex symbols because of the show — like Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Karlie Kloss — and models who were already famous because they were sex symbols — like Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne (Wasilak). “If Victoria's Secret wanted to advocate for true feminism – not pop culture feminism – then women of all shapes, sizes, ages, and origin would be considered (Gonzalez).”
Another example is singer Rihanna’s ad for her fourth fragranced called Rogue. In the image, she is nearly naked besides a pair of black underwear and black high heeled shoes while she poses seductively next to a life-size version of the fragrance. Because of its sexual suggestion, the Advertising Standards Authority says it should have been given a placement restriction to reduce the possibility of it being seen by children (McCoy).
Being a celebrity itself is also very much like being an advertisement in the media, except you’re advertising yourself. From advertising, “porn chic” has also translated into everyday media style. Many female celebrities and influencers have adopted this “sexy look” by wearing “short skirts, skimpy tops, and very high heels” (Gibson) for red carpet media or even just their own personal social media. However, some younger female celebrities and influencers are denying the norms for feminine dress like singer Billie Eilish who dresses in over-sized, baggy clothing rather than tight clothing (Ray). People look up to her for her talent, not because she is a sex icon unlike Madonna who profited off “porn chic” (Ashley) or Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton who became famous from sex tapes (Shukman).
In terms of Hollywood movie media, it’s the very same — many of these celebrity actresses are cast in hypersexualized stereotypes, stereotypes where their clothing (or lack thereof) is an important part of their character. In an interview with Empire magazine, actress and supermodel Cara Delevingne argues that “ ‘Female superheroes are normally naked or in bikinis,’ Delevingne told Empire magazine. ‘Wonder Woman: How the hell does she fight like that? She would be dead in a minute’ ” (“Sex and the New Female Superhero”).
The construct perpetuated by the porn/sex industry deems that a woman must dress ‘slutty’ to be admired or deemed worthy of attention. In order to promote consumption, media and advertising profit off of the commercialization/commodification of sex because sex sells. “ ‘ Sex sells because it attracts attention. People are hard wired to notice sexually relevant information so ads with sexual content get noticed,’ ” (Sorrow). It’s the fashion specifically that often plays a role in the oversexualization of females within the ads.
Demographically the fashion industry appeals to women, but the industry is still run by men; in fact, most of the leading careers in fashion are dominated by men (Ray). Although many of these women do believe this kind of dress is empowering — which it can be — for media and advertisements purposes, these outfits are often chosen by the executives — who are often males — because catering to the male gaze yields more attention and thus greater profit. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but historically, these fashion choices are patriarchally driven because they run the industry, thus this ultimately reinforces the idea of female objectification and male domination. Since the power of fashion is in their hands, are women really choosing what they wear in the media?
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