The year female desire went mainstream

From Nicole Kidman’s erotic thriller “Babygirl,” to a book of sexual fantasies edited by Gillian Anderson, this was the year the female sex drive took the wheel in popular culture.

While women’s desire is nothing new and certainly not a trend, 2024 has seen the female sex drive take the wheel in popular culture. It feels apt that the year will close — culturally speaking, at least — with the release of “Babygirl.” The movie, which came out on Christmas Day in the US (January 10 in the UK), stars Nicole Kidman as a high-powered businesswoman who becomes sexually submissive to one of her interns. “It’s told by a woman, through her gaze,” said Kidman at a press conference during the Venice Film Festival screening in August. “That’s, to me, what made it so unique … and freeing.” “Babygirl” is directed by the Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn, who at the same press conference said that she hoped the movie would address “the huge orgasm gap” that exists between men and women. While there have been plenty of expressions of female sexuality throughout history — from the banned books of late Irish novelist Edna O’Brien to Jane Birkin’s orgasmic vocals in 1967’s “Je t’aime moi non plus” and rapper Cardi B’s spit take-inducing lyrics on “WAP” — these have often been the exception, rather than the rule. But the past 12 months have seen explicit examples of female desire rush in simultaneously from the margins to the mainstream. From film to TV, music and literature, the female gaze has been promoted wholesale without shame, secrecy or euphemism.