Answer:
The culture of romance
Explanation:
Shulamith Firestone's central thesis is: "Romanticism is a cultural tool of male power to keep women from knowing their conditions. Thus, the author is claiming that "romanticism," really the romantic relationship, is a device which is culturally created for the purpose of oppressing women. The author then breaks "Romanticism" into three components (that make up the romantic myth): 1) Eroticism, 2) The sex privatization of women, and 3) The beauty ideal.
Eroticism: "Eroticism preserves the sex class system." We are a highly sexualized culture which relies heavily on the objectification of women. For men, the constant presence of the hyper-sexualized female object is rather like a constant taunt/tease. It is a stimulation which can only be acted upon/released through genital intercourse in the private bedroom as that is the only socially accepted type of sex and the only socially acceptable place for sex. For women, the presence of these hyper-sexualized female objects, in turn make them see themselves as erotic object and this fosters the mind-set that "I exist only to be enjoyed by man." This mind-set is detrimental to women and highly oppressive for, "I exist to be enjoyed by man" quickly turns into "I do NOT exist if I am not being enjoyed by man" and this leaves no room for female pleasure/enjoyment while simultaneously allowing a class system to persist.
The Sex Privatization of Women: Here, according to the author, woman becomes her set of physical attributes (attributes which individually taken are carried by a large portion of the female collective). However, because she becomes her set of physical attributes general praise or condemnation are taken personally. For example, she IS blonde, big breasts, luscious lips, blue eyes and this reduces her individuality to a specific physical attribute. This practice denotes the inferior status of women in our culture.
The Beauty Ideal: The beauty ideal is rather self-explanatory. By constantly trying to mimic an ever changing beauty ideal women are being objectified and are kept busy objectifying themselves. The beauty ideal also enhances the sex privatization of women (you are your physical parts) and eroticism.
