Cinema St. Louis (CSL)

The Dilemma of Desire with The Strippers

Expired November 23, 2020 5:59 AM
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“The Dilemma of Desire” explores female sexual desire and the powerful gender politics that revolve around not acknowledging female desire. The female body is the primary metaphor for sexuality, saturating advertising and mainstream erotic imagery. But female sexual desire — what women actually want — is left out of the conversation. To make matters worse, cultural, religious, and political forces actually punish women for expressing their sexual desire. The bottom line is this: There can be no equality without equality of pleasure. Part vérité and part essay, “The Dilemma of Desire” — political, provocative, funny, edgy — reveals how we arrived at where we are today and why, despite the real gains that came with the ’60s revolution, women must still navigate a powerful and at times outright misogynistic patriarchy. IndieWire writes: “Maria Finitzo’s alternately very funny and intensely informational ‘The Dilemma of Desire’ will instill a brand new vocab word in its viewers’ minds: ‘cliteracy.’ Following the unique stories of four bold women, Finitzo’s film takes a thrilling look at female bodies. What the filmmaker and her subjects ultimately find goes beyond just questions of art, science, and representation (like that’s not already enough), offering a full spectrum look at how ignoring anatomy feeds into all corners of existence.”


Co-presented by Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.

  • Year
    2020
  • Runtime
    108 minutes
  • Language
    English
  • Country
    U.S.
  • Director
    Maria Finitzo