50 Pop Culture Icons That Have Changed the Way You Think about Sex

The crack staff at Nerve Magazine (link below) decided to compile a Top 50 list (because everyone loves top-whatever-lists) of the individuals responsible for revolutionizing the way with think of sex. Their milquetoast list ran the gamut of free-thinking characters that innovated or reinvented everything we’ve know about sex and gender in the last century. Many of you would think that the list would read like a who’s who of porn, but quite the contrary. There were only two porn stars listed. I’ll leave it up to you to guess which two.  

Since you’re dying to know some names on Nerve’s list, I’ll give you a brief overview of five individuals that stood out to me, in no particular order.  

Lena Dunham hit the list due to her inability to stay clothed on the HBO series Girls. Nerve contends, in so many words, that Dunham’s body is representative of a real woman’s body, especially one that struggles with the balance between eating and exercising.  

Selena Mooney aka Missy Suicide surprisingly appeared on the list, based on the fact that she “invited the male gaze”, but that gaze was just fixated on “something a little different – and darker”. 

Nerve didn’t come out and say it, but the reason Jennifer Lopez made the list is because she had the most famous ass, and it made people do weird things, I guess.

It seems as though Madonna was a given to make the Top 50. She was a female icon that successfully mixed talent with sex appeal, more latter than prior. Nerve noted that she was an “icon of female debauchery”, and helped “a legion of women to learn the thrill of coming out a sexual being”.  

Speaking of being a given, Marilyn Monroe made the list because she “set the precedent” for the prototypical blonde bombshell. Without a M. Monroe, they’d be no Pamela Anderson and Kate Upton.  

Check out Nerve’s 50 and let me know what you think. Did they miss someone? Is there someone you think shouldn’t be on the list, besides Morrissey? Speak up.  

Via: Nerve