Like a Virgin.. or Not

Like a VirginÐ'...or not

Madonna had always been a holy icon until the early 1980's when the name "Madonna" developed a dual connotation. The introduction of America's top female sex symbol Madonna created an image far opposite of the previously known hallowed one. In John Fiske's essay "Madonna," he depicts the singer's character, portraying her as socially and semiotically powerful. Although his essay is currently outdated, Fiske illustrates an illusion of Madonna that Generation Xers eventually accepted and will probably never forget.

Sex has always been a controversial matter in American society. Before the 1980's, those that openly articulated their views about sex were thought of as promiscuous and perverse, unless they were male. Perhaps, that is why the aura of Madonna stirred raving controversy across America. Fiske notes that her image was not a "model meaning for young girls in patriarchy, but a site of semiotic struggle between the forces of patriarchal control and feminine resistance, of capitalism and the subordinate, of the adult and the young (Fiske 282)." Never before had a woman presented herself so provocatively yet so comfortably.

In the beginning, Madonna ultimately sacrificed sexual purity. Her daring exploitation of sex from a feminine point of view was definitely a breakthrough in 1980's American society. Often, she dressed like a man and grabbed herself in "sacred" and "unseen" places. Actions like these, as Fiske points out, presented a threat but "not the traditional and easily contained one of woman as a whore but the more radical one of woman as independent of masculinity (Fiske 284)." Young girls regarded her actions not as "tarty" or "seductive" but as completely "acceptable." Eventually, they embraced her image and strived to follow her example of the independent and sexually licentious woman (Fiske 283).

Society has finally accepted feminine independence and accredited Madonna as the pioneer for introducing that autonomy. In many ways, she now represents the woman's metamorphosis. As Fiske noted she began by showing "both her pleasure in her own physicality and the fun she finds (found) in admitting and expressing pleasure: it is (was) a sexual-physical pleasure that has (had) nothing to do with menÐ'...(Fiske 285)." While this may have been an impression of Madonna in the 1980's, she has evolved into what society deems as the epitome of badass woman: utterly independent.

Fiske's essay does not really have much application to the perception of Madonna in today's society. Fiske presents Madonna as an