Starz recently released a new TV show called Three Women based on the 2019 book by Lisa Taddeo with the same title. The show explores the sexual desires of three different women who are in various stages of their sexual exploration. Since we are well into Libra season, which is ruled by the planet Venus, themes of love, pleasure, beauty, desire, intimacy, and sensuality will be highlighted for the collective. We will explore how the show Three Women highlights the theme of reclaiming your sexuality as a woman with the help of Venus during this Libra season.
Women’s Sexual Repression
The first episode of Three Women gives us a brief background on the three female characters the show will follow: a suburban wife and mother named Lina, a high school student named Maggie, and a successful restaurant owner named Sloane. Lina’s introduction as a sexually repressed wife in a religious household evokes pity from the viewers. Her immediate desire is to be kissed, and she spends hours fantasizing about it, but unfortunately, her husband has no desire to be intimate with her. She seeks counsel from their pastor, but he shuts down her desires because Lina’s husband finds kissing “icky”. This is a classic reminder of how religion can be used as a tool to sexually repress women’s desire for intimacy.
As a result of not feeling desired by her husband, Lina struggles with her image and finding herself desirable. This is something most women can relate to because of the constant media consumption that centers on the male gaze and how we must fit specific beauty standards to be perceived as desirable. This Libra season, we are reminded that Venus is the planet associated with the divine feminine and beauty. Finding beauty within yourself through self-love will result in self-desire, which will inevitably attract other people towards you. Libras are also known as fashionistas, so it is helpful to dress in a way that makes you feel beautiful and desirable. Fashion can be a great mode of expression that allows women to build self-confidence and feel sexy for themselves.
Tyomi, a certified sexologist, authentic tantra practitioner and international pleasure coach with over 13 years of experience in the sexual health field, encourages married women who are struggling to own their sexual pleasure to hire a sex coach who can provide tools to help them reach their goal of accepting their sexuality. Working with a coach saves time and provides a safe space for women to lean into doing the inner work. The judgments and negative thoughts about sex have to be reframed in order for any woman to accept her rights to sexual pleasure. A sex coach will create a plan to help her reach her goals of sexual acceptance and expanded pleasure.
Women’s Sexual Reclamation
Sexual reclamation involves examining how one’s personal views of sexuality have been negatively influenced by programming from patriarchy, popular culture, personal culture, and religion.
Lina is encouraged by her doctor to explore self-pleasure as a tool to help combat her chronic condition. Within the first episode of Three Women, she gets a vibrator, locks herself in the garage, masturbates inside the car, and experiences a completely transformative orgasm. As an audience member, witnessing the twinkle in her eyes was powerful. Lina was experiencing a sexual awakening, which was a reminder that despite being married and already mothering two children, she was yet to have a pleasurable sexual experience.
This unveils the misconception that once women are married, they can have all the sex they want. Sexual compatibility, in addition to communicating how you want your pleasure in the bedroom, is a necessity for maintaining a healthy sexual lifestyle. Libra season is associated with the 7th astrological house, which is known as the house of partnerships and marriage. As a woman, sexual exploration through self-pleasure allows you to better understand your body’s desires. Understanding your sexual desires leads to reclaiming your sexuality which results in sexual liberation. This is helpful when you enter a marriage or a partnership because you will be able to own your pleasure.
The second episode of Three Women focuses entirely on Lina’s story, and we witness her constant desire to masturbate, which impacts her daily routines. As a late sexual bloomer, she is struggling to reconcile with all the sexual pleasure she has been missing by compensating with constant masturbation. This is why encouraging self-pleasure before and during a relationship is a healthy technique to ensure your sexual desires are also being met. Society teaches women that their partner is responsible for meeting all their sexual desires, but this is an unrealistic expectation if you have no agency in your sexuality.
When women reclaim their sexuality, they can own their pleasure instead of putting it in someone else’s hands. Otherwise, your partnership can breed resentment because you expect your partner to know how to please you when you are unable to please yourself. This Libra season, Venus encourages us to take our sexual pleasure into our own hands by tapping into our sensuality, finding out our sexual turn-ons, and communicating our sexual desires with our partners.
Sexologist Tyomi defines sexual reclamation as a woman embracing her sexual desires and learning how to express and explore them without guilt or shame. That also includes a woman deciding how she feels about sex and exercising her autonomous right to explore her desires consciously and consensually. It involves facing the thoughts and beliefs that create guilt and shame around experiencing sexual pleasure. This is a form of Shadow Work. This work involves examining how one’s personal views of sexuality have been negatively influenced by programming from patriarchy, popular culture, personal culture, and religion. Understanding how these influences create feelings of guilt and shame assists in the process of removing the blocks causing sexual repression. Once the blocks are removed, a woman is able to tap into her sexual energy, and gets to choose how she exercises her erotic exploration.
The Power of Pleasure
Unfortunately for Lina’s case, she communicates her sexual desires to her husband, who completely shuts her down. As a result, the second episode of Three Women shows her reconnecting with an old flame where they share one night of sexual passion. Despite being on her period, Lina’s old flame is unfazed, and the audience gets to witness her experiencing an orgasm after being sexually starved for so long.
In addition to being sexually fulfilled, the first thing Lina does when she sees him and the last thing she does when he leaves is passionately kiss him. As a viewer, it feels very rewarding to see Lina own her pleasure and claim it. On the other hand, her women’s support group feels underwhelmed by her experience due to cheating on her husband. This affirms the importance of sexual compatibility in a partnership and the value of walking away when your sexual desires are being ignored, especially after communicating with your partner.
Lina’s orgasm during her sexual encounter allows her to release the chronic pain in her body, which affirms the power of pleasure. As a woman, orgasms have numerous benefits for your physical health, such as menstrual pain relief or improving your immune system. Mental health benefits include stress relief and improved brain functioning. Since this Libra season will be highlighting marriage and intimate partnerships, it is important to remember that sexual evolution can occur in relationships. As a result, your partner’s sexual desires may look different now than they did at the beginning of your relationship. This is why constant check-ins with your partner are necessary, and if at any point you or your partner outgrow each other sexually, the relationship needs to be reevaluated. It may be harder to walk away, but would you rather be sexually repressed and potentially cheat or be honest with yourself and experience the sexual pleasure you deserve?
This Libra season is the perfect time for women to reclaim their sexuality, especially considering the orgasm gap between men and women. Women should not have to fake orgasms or restrict their desires for the sake of maintaining a relationship. Just like Lina from Three Women, learning about your body and what you like empowers you to reclaim your pleasure in partnerships. This will result in sexual liberation, which improves your overall mental and physical health.To learn about the other women’s sex lives and keep up with Lina’s story, be sure to check out the latest Starz series, Three Women.
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