Like many students at Emory University, I spent a huge portion of my summer doing what I could not do during the academic year: scrolling endlessly through social media. Although this was probably not the best way to pass the time, it allowed me to participate in viral social media trends this summer, particularly those revolving around pop music and female artists. This meant seeing Charli XCX on my TikTok For You Page constantly and going down the spiral of “Brat Summer,” an aesthetic inspired by Charli’s provocative and rebellious album “Brat.” As a feminist, I loved seeing the girls and the gays blow up this trend and make it the emblem of summer 2024. But if we look closely at “Brat,” we can see something much more important happening in culture: a transformation in female sexuality. Charli’s popularity shows that we are moving on from tolerating a patriarchal definition of female sexuality that was exploitative of women’s sexuality and bodies.
In our patriarchal society, women are fed a specific gender dynamic from the moment they are born. Little boys are constantly encouraged to face the world and create their own reality with so-called masculine toys, such as cars and spacecrafts, which are meant to reassure them that they will be seated in real-life versions of them one day. Conversely, girls are confined to stereotypical dolls and hot pink cooking utensils that reduce them to the social impositions that come with female genitalia. While boys can become astronauts and Formula One drivers, girls are subliminally told to be the beautiful women waiting for them at the finish line, which is later reflected in the job segregation phenomenon. Indeed, girls are taught to assume secondary roles.
We grow up to subconsciously accept that our whole female existence revolves around the construct of what a woman is, something patriarchal structures have strategically created to keep us in the margins. The most alarming part about this is that when we are past the age of playing with dolls, the belief that women are lesser than men transpires to our sexuality and how we express it. Today’s women can no longer uphold this ideal.
When girls start discovering sexuality, perhaps one of the biggest and most intimate pillars of our identity, they are even more limited by the construct of womanhood. We learn about the concept of sex through the learned ideas of what a woman does during sex, what she looks like during sex and how she reacts to sex. And because we have been taught to look at sex through the lenses of the patriarchy, we become unaware of the inhumane utilization of our sexuality and body.
For example, think of the orgasm gap. It is overwhelmingly common for women in heterosexual relationships to not reach orgasm during sex with their partners, and due to the commodification of female sexuality, that has been normalized. Just as we lacked a suspicion of the enforced subjugation that came with glorifying baby dolls when we were young, we are now not conscious of the misogyny present during sex. We are not conscious of how sex centers masculinity — to the degree that it becomes hard for women to notice when we are taking part in sex that we do not physically enjoy. And, for the most part, women are unable to see the severity of this issue in our everyday lives.
Despite the tragic patriarchal conditioning of female sexuality, the popularity of “Brat” during the summer gave me hope that one day, women will regain their sexual autonomy. Charli’s album goes to show that women are slowly but collectively rejecting all the ways in which misogyny can sneak into our lives, which is crucial in reclaiming female sexuality. If we look beneath its surface, “Brat” explores a version of femaleness that is insolent, rebellious and unafraid of embracing female sexuality, as the title suggests. It depicts themes of not only love, sex and desire but also autonomy. The awkwardness and uncomfortableness that comes with figuring out one’s identity in a patriarchal society is palpable in this album and the movement it inspired.
Above all, “Brat” creates a powerful aesthetic that compels us to reimagine female sexuality, asking women to voice what they actually like and take action to become the new sexually empowered female that Charli embodies.
Although patriarchal values are programmed into the experience of female sexuality, I am confident that we can find paths toward liberation as long as we keep demanding change and remain vigilant to sexism everywhere — especially in the bedroom and in our sexual and romantic relationships. Starting at Emory, women must be able to talk about these experiences openly and decide what is acceptable and what is not. As young people, we must reflect on how much work still needs to be done, even in an environment that may seem safer for women than most other spaces. We must loudly call out all misogynistic behaviors we see and hold people accountable for them. By becoming aware of how misogyny can filter through sex and sexuality, we can reclaim our identities and embrace being “Brat,” even as summer comes to an end.
Josefina Logrippo (27C) is from Mendoza, Argentina.
