ABSTRACT
It is not clear that capital or the state has an interest in the acts of sex themselves. The complex mesh that polices sexual behaviour, stretching from the unspoken contract of social norms to the state persecution of minorities, seems to operate more through ideas of public identities and allegiances than through an explicit prohibition of particular acts. And, as we have discussed above, the state may police in a manner that appears to contradict the market – and equally, the market may show no interest in selling the sex that is most highly valued by the state. Although monogamous heterosexuality remains the most celebrated life-choice in political speeches by all parties, little energy is exerted selling accessories for this sexual choice. Although many aspects of consumer culture encourage and reward heterosexual living arrangements, there are few attempts to sell the pleasures of heterosexual sex as sex. Instead, commodified sex aids extol the pleasures of group sex, public sex, SM sex, voyeurism, swinging, unexpected casual encounters and excitingly scripted scenarios that must be paid for in advance – nowhere is there any sense that the supposed social benefits of marriage could be sold as erotic adventure.
