What Is Sexual Capital?

Sociologists Kaplan and Illouz (The End of Love) deliver a provocative reappraisal of the role of sex in neoliberal societies. The authors argue that sexual capital can generate “advantages that are obtained in the sexual arena but may go well beyond it,” and they outline four categories of sexual capital, including “by default” in the form of chastity and the “surplus value of the body” utilized by sex workers and ostensibly nonsexual service sector jobs. “Embodied sexual capital” refers to the “sex sells” principle in advertising and entertainment, and the authors’ formulation of “neoliberal sexual capital” describes the employability benefits enjoyed by people whose sexuality boosts their self-confidence and esteem. The authors’ arguments occasionally stumble under internal contradictions, such as when they assert that the motivation to accrue sexual capital is “not an interested behavior but habituation instilled by class dispositions,” conflicting with their earlier observation that sex workers and waiters game the exploitative systems to their benefit. That said, there’s plenty of food for thought here, and Kaplan and Illouz offer an important contribution to understanding the socioeconomic function of sex. (May)