Resistance and Extremism: Why Women's Erotic Consumption Is Not a Threat to Men

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the erotic consumption of a group of Brazilian women, examining: (1) how social structures and gender relations, present in this particular society, impact and reflect erotic products consumption and marketing practices; and (2) how erotic products consumption and marketing practices may, in turn, influence and help transform social structures and gender relations. The topic of women's erotic consumption has been identified as an epistemological gap within the field of Management, despite its obviously increasing economic, social and cultural importance. Thirty-five in-depth interviews were conducted, as well as several observation sessions in stores and events. Data were interpreted from a cultural perspective. From the comparison between the extremes of the particular and the universal, a counterintuitive finding emerges: aspects of this particular phenomenon suggest the refutation of a universal premise, primary source of resistance to women's erotic consumption: that erotic products may replace men and may threaten their role in conjugal dynamics.