Sex and Society: Get a life, girls

Why do middle-class mums go to the gym for pole-dancing classes? Because, says Ariel Levy, they have been conned by kitschy, slutty ‘raunch culture’

Some version of a sexy, scantily clad temptress has been around through the ages, and there has always been a demand for smut. But whereas this was once a guilty pleasure on the margins — on the almost entirely male margins — now, strippers, porn stars and Playboy bunnies have gone mainstream, writing bestsellers, starring in reality television shows, living a life we’re all encouraged to emulate. Prepubescent girls wear ‘thong’ underpants, their mothers drive off to the gym for pole-dancing classes after lunch.

Last week Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, hit out at what she called ‘pimp and ho chic’. ‘A lot of people seem to think that it’s cool to be a pimp or a ho,’ she said. ‘But it’s not cool.