Do Erogenous Zones Affect Fashion or Does Fashion Affect Them?
Image Courtesy: Dom Hill on Unsplash
Throughout my twenty-one years of life, I’ve been able to experience a vast difference in trends as they have come and gone. I remember the low-rise jeans with crop-tops trend in the early 2000s (now coming back as ‘y2k’) to the emphasis on high-rise skinny jeans in the 2010s. If I were to try to pinpoint the underlying psychological behavior fueling the change in fashion trends, I would have to strongly rely on the idea of Erogenous Zone Theory.
Needless to say, erogenous zones exists outside of the world of fashion. They’re innately specific areas of the body that give rise to sexual stimulus or desire. It seems though, that according to J.C. Flugel, British experimental psychologist, women’s fashion thrives off of its relationship with them. Although he originally proposed that it was necessary for the concealment of these areas (such as legs and midriff) in order to invoke sexual curiosity, this has been remodeled to support the idea of zoning changes reflecting a shifting interest in women’s body parts.
Evidence for this can be seen as early as the Renaissance, through gowns that would seem to enhance and swell abdomens. Not only was an individual’s weight regarded in relation to their socioeconomic status, but this swelling that seemingly implied pregnancy was a desired fashion choice within this time period. This evolved in the 18th century, when busts upheld by a bodice or corset began to increase in popularity. This could be seen further in the Victorian-era hourglass figure, posing a form of clothed nudity. The Victorian emphasis on the hourglass figure can be seen to remain prevalent within the realm of fashion through today.
Image Courtesy: Vicky Hladynets on Unsplash
Coming back to more recent times, although the punk movement of the 1980s focused mostly on hair and makeup, there are still prime examples of a shift in focus of erogenous zones to be seen during this time. Miniskirts, made from denim and leather, were often paired with jackets featuring shoulder pads to make one’s shoulders appear higher and larger. In the 1990s, ripped skinny jeans came to popularity with the grunge movement, to focus on one’s waist-down physique. Around this same period, men began to sag their pants below the hips or rear. With the start of the 21st century, individuality began to highlight itself. As discussed in an NPR podcast Flesh and Fashion: Shifting Erogenous Zones of Style, Brittney Spears heavily influenced the trends of the early 2000s, specifically low-rise pants with short crop-tops. One of the guests they had on the show claimed, “...it’s fitted to my body and showing a lot of stomach, I’ve been working out and I feel good right now...”
I personally noticed both throughout middle-school and high-school that the sudden focus on high-rise skinny jeans was directly related to a trend focusing on hourglass figures (and ‘Instagram baddies’). However, Amy Scarborough and Patricia Hunt-Hurst propose the idea that maybe it is an inverse relationship in that fashion influences erogenous zones. They studied this possibility through 1900-1946 fashion and found that popular culture, including movies, deemed what areas of one’s body were appropriate to show on-screen and off-screen.
A good point to pay attention to within current fashion trends would be the popularity of the body positivity movement within the past few years and its correlation to the return of Y2K fashion, such as low-rise pants and velour tracksuits. While this fashion was popular to emphasize one’s skinniness in the premiere decade of the 2000s, during the 2020s it can be seen to emphasize a love for one’s body, regardless of size. To conclude, it’s up to your interpretation whether erogenous zones influence fashion, or vice versa. The power is totally within your hands to bring a new erogenous zone (or a new fashion trend) to light regarding the psychological behaviors around it.
Strike Out,
Writer: Katrina Solares
Editors: Cailin Rolph, Natalia Finnis-Smart
Miami