American Anti-Orgasm League = Modern Magazine culture and

The Severine Complex

Catherine Deneuve as Severine in "Belle de Jour"

The American Anti-Orgasm League

"Sex for our pleasure or their profit"

"Challenging the Medicalization of Sex."

A campaign that can be found on www.fsd-alert.org discusses how the pharmaceutical industry is turning sexual problems into physical problems.

Check it out.

Modern Magazines

Speaking of the medicalization of Sex, a recent issue of British Cosmopolitan magazine attempted to show their readers how to arouse a man with various Body road maps. Excuse the misquote, but it went something like this: "Gently glide your hand towards his penis, and brush left past his testicles until you swerve past his anus and stroke his left bum cheek until he climaxes, go north, to watch."

The Severine Complex

In the early part of the twentieth century Joseph Kessel wrote "Belle de Jour" in France. The book was to be black listed for it's perverse sexual content, however people who recognised it's literary genius often wrote to the author identifying with what was soon to be known as the "Severine Complex": A small girl is raped in childhood, as a result she can only enjoy sex if she is being abused, feels endangered or is physically disgusted by her partner. In 1967, the book was adapted for the screen by Director Luis Buñuel and screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière. In a recent interview, Carrière explained how the film was later used by famous French psycho-analyst Lacan to illustrate the typical behavior of a female sexually abused in childhood.

When adapting the book, Carrière said they decided to illustrate the sexual fantasies of Severine that were not described by Kessel in the book. They interviewed several female friends and asked them to describe their darkest fantasies in order to write the script. The stylishly portrayed sadomasochistic dream sequences in the film were taken from the minds of contemporary women.

This film which is now regarded as a cult classic questions the modern obsession with which enjoyable sex must be legitimised by perverse surroundings and to what extent, we are drifting from the true meaning of sexual attraction by telling people when, where and how they should be aroused.