BARCELONA — Leading Spanish mainstream newspaper El País yesterday published a lyrical essay by Catalonian poet Juana Dolores Romero Casanova (also known as Juana Dolores), a self-described “anti-capitalist feminist,” singing the praises of Satisfyer.
In her essay, Romero Casanova starts by quoting a critique of the commercialization of sexuality, from sociologists Eva Illouz and Dana Kaplan’s “Sexual Capital in Late Modernity” (soon to be published in English as “What is Sexual Capital?”), but then immediately declares herself “a collaborationist of neo-liberal interests and strategies which, among other disasters and ridiculous things, have turned sex into the chief indicator of freedom, empowerment and cosmopolitanism in modern culture.”
“Yes, I confess. And I apologize. And I forgive myself,” she adds.
The essay then passes through a discussion of female sexual objectification and agency in order to reach the conclusion foretold by Romero Casanova in her title — "Satisfyer, Mon Amour" — which refers to a current debate in the Spanish press about the prominence and revolutionary nature of the Satisfyer Pro 2, introduced in 2019.
“As feminists,” Romero Casanova writes, “we cannot deny the victory that the success of a clit sucker — and not a dildo — implies by making visible and normalizing female masturbation and democratizing orgasm. As anti-capitalist feminists, we cannot deny the danger of the implication that the price to be paid for our sexual liberation is the commodification of our sexuality.”
“The contradiction: I validate myself, and I resign myself,” the poet capitulates.
To read Juana Dolores Romero Casanova’s “Satisfyer, Mon Amour” (in Spanish), visit El País.