The Sexism of the Sex Icon

White sandy beaches, clear blue waters and Jennifer Lopez in a Swarovski-crystal infused, Versace bodysuit all characterized Miami on February 2nd, 2020 (and some sport was also played, I’m told). The 54th Super Bowl halftime show, performed by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, was a display of Latin culture as well as the extreme sex appeal of both women. While reactions to the show were both positive and negative, it really emphasized the fact that there are few things we love more than sex icons. 

Notions of the “sex icon” have continually filled our pop culture and imagination. However,  the ever-present idea of a celebrity sex symbol didn’t become popularized as a term until the 1950s with the rise of sex symbols, many of which still impact today’s culture, including the iconic Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. The ‘official’ definition for a celebrity sex symbol is simply the fact that they are, for all intents and purposes, universally agreed upon as very sexually attractive. What this means is that, as times have changed, so too have the criteria for people who are considered to be sex symbols. What doesn’t seem to have changed with the times, however, is the gender bias that exists when thinking of sex symbols. 

Other than the iconic JLo, a multitude of other examples of sex icons also come to mind — Cindy Crawford, Beyoncé, Halle Berry, Idris Elba, Leonardo DiCaprio and Harry Styles to name a few — but what seems to persist is the difference in attitudes towards male versus female sex icons. We’re not going to pretend that both men and women aren’t sexualized in the media, yet there is a clear difference in the way that affects their career and how they’re portrayed in media. In order to explore the differences in the way that becoming a sex icon shapes the career of a male versus a female celebrity, I went on a deep-dive (I scrolled through their IMDb pages) of some of the sex icons that are popular today. 

The first thing that I found? The obvious typecasting that occurs among the actors dubbed sex icons. Okay, yes, actors can be typecast without being considered a sex symbol (see: Michael Cera in literally everything that he has ever been in), but there’s something special about becoming a sex icon that means a woman’s most prevalent trait in a movie is the fact that everyone wants to have sex with her — Scarlett Johansson in “The Avengers,” Jessica Rabbit (she’s a cartoon, and yet) in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,”  and Alice Eve in “Star Trek: Into the Darkness,” for example. 

The typecasting of sex icons is also by no means tied to just female actresses. The sensuality of men who are sex icons is also amped up in their role, but instead of it being through scantily clad images where the entire emphasis is upon just how much everyone wants to sleep with this person, it’s an aggressive display of masculinity typically showcased through (somewhat unnecessary) action sequences and intense smolders (often while shirtless) — Chris Evans in “Captain America,” John Krasinski in “Jack Ryan,” and Ryan Gosling in “Crazy, Stupid, Love” (because as you know, there’s nothing more attractive than a man who’s emotionally unavailable). 

The difference is that men can continue to play whatever role they want, just with the added bit of intensity that makes them oh-so attractive to us. Women, however, become tied to their sex appeal — when was the last time you saw Angelina Jolie as more than the badass babe who everyone is lusting after?

The next thing that stuck out to me was the way that this follows the celebrities off of the screen. It turns out that it really isn’t enough to just narrow people’s careers based on their attractiveness, it has to follow them into their everyday lives. Being a male sex icon is kind of a celebrated ordeal, with Buzzfeed listicles and People’s Sexiest Man Alive constantly reminding us not only of how hot these men are but also how amazing it is for us as a society that they’re this hot. While I’m not trying to advocate that we bring back Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive award — it lasted from 2004 to 2015, during which Scarlett Johansson was bestowed the honor twice — I think it shows that we definitely need to examine the way that we talk about female sex icons. 

Female sex icons are hypersexualized in a way that men simply aren’t. Megan Fox spoke to this in a recent interview detailing the ten years it has been since her movie Jennifer’s Body, describing how she was constantly sexualized in her career, even when she didn’t need to be.  Sexualization brings her value more to the fact that she’s an attractive woman and less to the fact that she can actually act. She’s not the only example of this, as it becomes hard for audiences to look past the celebrity’s sexuality to their actual career — something that doesn’t seem to exist as strongly for men, because as much of a sex icon as they can be, their talent still tends to be described first (as can be seen through George Clooney). 

And while many celebrities — both male and female — are open about their sex lives, female celebrities are still expected to talk about sex less. This, when compared with the fact that women are often portrayed as sexual objects in media, presents an interesting dichotomy. It reinforces the idea that women can absolutely be sexual, but only for male pleasure and not their own. The use of celebrity sex icons to promote the sexualization of women for men’s pleasure exacerbates this problem as it reinforces the idea that women’s values lie in their body as an object — decidedly not great message. 

I’m not saying that we should stop partaking in all forms of media related to sex icons, mostly because I won’t stop watching Buzzfeed videos of attractive people with puppies and kittens but also because that just doesn’t make sense. Nor do I blame these celebrities for being sex icons (though genetically, I do a little bit) or for taking the opportunities that come their way. It’s belittling (and annoying) to say that the issue here is society, but really, until we do a better job of making sure that we give female sex icons the same freedom (in roles, in talking about sex, in Buzzfeed listicles) and respect that we give to male sex icons, it’s hard to say much else. 

So while you continue to watch celebrities read thirst tweets (or continue tweeting them out in the first place, if that’s more your vibe), keep in mind that, as Summer Walker sings, girls need love too, and we should make the space for female sex icons to exist for themselves as opposed to for our viewing pleasure the same way male sex icons are able to.