Graphika, a social media environment analysis service, released a report in December that found that 34 AI services that synthesize existing photos into nudes had over 24 million users. This is the result of a 2,400% increase in the number of links advertising “undressing apps” on social media, including X and Reddit. Nudity without the consent of the individual has been a scourge of the internet for a long time, but now the advancement of AI technology is making deepfake software easier and more sophisticated.

Sexuality has traditionally been a very private and relative subject. However, today, the web and internet services that are accessible at any time allow individuals to find sexual stimulation that suits their tastes, and that trend has shifted into a somewhat destructive form that can go beyond self-centered limits and draw in the invisible lives of others.

In 1968, in Paris, France, a protest by eight young people against the US’s involvement in the Vietnam War sparked student protests across France and a 10 million-worker strike, resulting in an unprecedented anti-establishment, counter-cultural movement. This 1968 revolution was a turning point for the sexual libertarians of the time, when sexual acts that had been considered perverse and the identity of sexual minorities, which had been considered a disease or sin, were recognized. The sexual revolution that followed in the 1970s saw a significant relaxation of religious and social customary restrictions on love in many parts of the Western world, and women in particular became much more selective and transactional in their relationships, suddenly making “sexual attractiveness” the ultimate commodity.

Previously, purity was the most important social value, so intentional seduction was taboo, but from the 1970s onward, purity became a choice that could be freely adjusted for the purpose of relationships. In other words, for women, marrying the right person was a crucial factor in determining life’s success potential, so romance and seduction were linked to the pursuit of the highest value using the body. However, the media and advertising industries soon began to exploit the changing value of sex appeal, and it began to emerge as the source of ideas that stimulated buying desires in a variety of industries, from automobiles to fashion, liquor, and entertainment. The important point here is that sexuality shifted from private, physical reality to a realm of open imagery that had no connection to its original definition, openly displayed by companies and the like.

And today, we are witnessing a paradigm shift in which the role of sex appeal has decreased in the private sphere and become more prevalent in popular culture. As images of sex, youth, eroticism, and all virtual images have become widespread in the media world, beauty standards have become more homogeneous in some ways, more measurable, and stricter. The German philosopher Byung-Chul Han, in his book, The Agony of Eros, described this aesthetic as the aesthetic of smoothness. He claims that this aesthetic, characterized by its smooth, blemish-free perfection, is a hallmark of our time, citing as examples the works of Jeff Koons, the most successful artist of our time, the iPhones that attract attention with their new products every year, Brazilian waxing, a natural subject of conversation in everyday life, and blemish-free skin.

This deliberate social disregard for negative elements that give texture to the beauty of the human body as an organism implies a tendency to see the body as something lifeless and incorruptible, like plastic. Therefore, we need to question whether the link between the physical body and the relationship we have formed with it has been severed.

“Is sex appeal still a valid strategy?”

The answer to this question will be more important for individuals and, by extension, for businesses in the future. Modern love has moved away from the friction inevitably encountered in original relationships, and while all kinds of pornography are available online, the ambiguous erotic power that was confirmed in relative relationships has been lost. Therefore, we need to understand why we are pursuing our current goals of shaping our appearance and bodies, what is taking the place of romance that has become distant, in line with social changes such as singlehood and solitary death, and what is at the top of the pursuit of value. In particular, businesses engaged in selling related aspirations need to constantly strive to understand how original desires manifest themselves today and how they are shifting to other areas.

References

GRAPHIKA REPORT, A Revealing Picture

“Sexless? What are young people doing”…Gen Z is not a ‘blood-boiling’ 20-something [Books]

The Salvation of Beauty

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