Californication: secretary submissive

The TV series Californication raises some interesting issues regarding BDSM. Charlie and Marcy are a typical fun couple that most people would aspire to be. They have a fun, outgoing, trusting relationship. Charlie is a Hollywood talent agent who enjoys his job and takes care in most of the things he does. Charlie is portrayed in the series as a rational character for the most part, until he gets this new secretary Dani who deviates from the normal feminine characteristics and Charlie seems to be intrigued. She temps Charlie by wearing short skirts and does not obey what he says or asks of her most the time. This is done intentionally in order to get Charlie’s attention and to see how he reacts to her naughty behaviors. In the series Charlie “acts like any man would” and is interested in this bad girl behavior and in turn ends up having a BDSM relationship with Dani who insists on being the submissive and having Charlie dominate her.

            Because Dani behaves irrationally and seems to be a freak Charlie falls for the act and finds himself in a scary position. Dani not only wants to have a BDSM relationship with Charlie, but she strives to become an agent as well and I think she uses this tactic as a way to pursue her dream and manipulate her way into becoming an agent and taking Charlie’s job. I think this is seen as a negative thing because it makes women seem crazy and erotically disturbing. If she was interested in BDSM it wouldn’t be so bad, but since these roles are stereotypically played out in the series it just contributes to the dominant ideology that men are always the ones of power, and women are the crazy ones who manipulate and only pursue kinky things such as BDSM because they are trying to manipulate a man and not because they sincerely enjoy it.

In the article Thinking Kink, Catherine Scott analyzes whether submissive characteristics in women contribute to oppression. I think this BDSM relationship in Californication contributes to this debate because it shows both sides of the argument. Since Dani is acting as the submissive, and Charlie as the dominant they are already contributing to the gender norms of this situation. As well as Charlie is Dani’ boss, and he is also much older than her so this is also contributing negatively. The way that this situation deviates from the typical submissive behaviors of women is that Dani is the one who initiates it. She is the one who takes control of the situation and allows Charlie to experience it for the first time. As the series goes on, Dani comes out on top because she ends up becoming an agent as she wished for in the first place. The fact that she is able to get the dream job she wanted even after being in a submissive position, shows that her and Charlie are now of equal power and this is not something that typically would arise from a feminist view of oppression.

In a way this portray of BDSM is positive and negative. The positive side of it is that a women is controlling the sexual relationship and she is the one who is pursuing this behavior. It does show Charlie resisting the behavior at first, and consulting his friends about it before he engages. It also shows BDSM in a more positive light, showing that typical people engage in this behavior and it doesn’t always have to be crazy, weird individuals (even though Dani is a bit off her rocker).

The negative side is that this series portrays the stereotypical behaviors of men that present men as horny individuals who are extremely interested in foreplay and kinky sex and will cheat on their wives if it allows for this kind of relationship in their lives. It also shows that fun, outgoing women like his wife Marcy are not as fun and entertaining as they seem because they are not the ones engaging in sexual behaviors such as BDSM. I think this is extremely negative because women can behave in sexual ways that please themselves and their partner and that does not always mean that because they don’t engage in kinky behavior such as BDSM they should be cheated on. I think this show promotes the ideology that men are allowed to behave as they please because in the end everything will work out okay. In the end of the series Marcy does get back together with Charlie and she even tries to engage in BDSM behaviors to try to please him. In a way this is seen as humorous and it enhances the outgoing behavior that Marcy encompasses, but in a way it also promotes the idea that women will do whatever they think is good to please their man.


Works Cited:
Scott, C. (2012) THINKING KINK. Sex and Sexuality, Bitch Media.