These days there seems to be a lot of quite unwarranted confusion surrounding sexual freedom on the one hand, and commodification or over-the-top sexualization of women on the other hand.

Some people don't seem to know which is which. They see young women who want choice and the freedom to choose sexual partners without "slut-shaming", and to them, it's the same thing as the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, or the Girls Gone Wild videos.

Okay. Here's a tutorial to tell the difference. Not that this should ever be necessary, but there you are.

Sexual freedom is...
- choosing men, not necessarily being all about men choosing you.
- control over when, why, where, how and if it happens - and over what happens, and how much does.
- looking how you want to look, not how the culture thinks makes you look sexy - and knowing that men will find you sexy even if you are wearing a potato sack and ashes, because there were no makeup or breast implants 10,000 years ago and guys still managed to get woodies, and they still get them today, even when we don't want them to, and we're totally not trying.
- knowing that, however much you want this one guy, and flirt your ass off with him, this absolutely does *not* mean you will sleep with his buddy, or the guy across the room who saw you being sexy, because those guys are supposed to know it is *not* about them until *you* say so. And the law supports you on this.
- getting drunk, with nobody trying to pin you down on the ground, on the couch, or against the wall, or dragging you into closets. Passing out drunk, and waking up with all your clothes on and nobody on top of you.
- doing what you want, with no videos getting posted without your consent. Ever.
- dancing naked in your room without some creep looking through your window.
- ... (insert your own statement here)...

Commodification / sexual exploitation of women is...
- creating images of women with unrealistic bodies who squeal in delight and run up to be sexually available at the slightest indication men are consuming the products being advertised (cars, burgers, whatever other stupid thing is getting pitched)
- making women feel ugly or inadequate unless they diet/get surgery/buy globs of gunk/dye their hair/shave all over/otherwise modify their natural selves so when they bend over and say ooooo, men will approve, and thereby, validate the existence of the women doing so.
- ensuring that all role models of women doing anything at all, including fighting aliens or winning the Nobel Prize for Saving Humanity, look like Barbie blowup dolls with ridiculous body proportions, while male achievers get to look like anything they want. Just so women know their *real* jobs in life.
- making sure the images of women that are most approved of in society are primarily sexual and pleasing to men, so that women who are just, oh, geniuses or something, feel like there must be something missing in their lives.
- blaming rape victims for doing anything resembling what men dictate they should do to be pleasing to society (i.e., men).
- explaining to women how to avoid being victims, even though doing this will make them "totally uncool", or otherwise, well, unable to participate in society in general without bodyguards bearing lethal weapons.
- ... (insert your own statement here)...

Of course, there are hundreds of other possibilities here. Do feel free to post your own.

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