Well, clearly the puritanical aspects of western culture...and maybe we should just say American...tends toward a sex-negative baseline. So that you have shows like To Catch a Predator on at the same time as a Victoria's Secret fashion show (with lots of 15 year old models). But is this really a contradiction? its more like the repressive de-sublimated of marcuse.

Beyond that, the shift on the left toward *identity politics* signaled a shift toward the right. Feminism often becomes like gay rights and civil rights in that it accomadates the thing it purports to attack. A condi rice is seen by some as a feminist gain....while I would argue she is just someone who has internalized the male authority value system.
Where desire comes into this is really interesting. Desire is co-opted by marketing....(here is where Deleuze would come in, no?) and mediated and administered. IF people are objectified and commodified (making themselves, in fact, into commodities -- and this relates to terms like 'lifestyle') then desire is itself commodified.

Ms Willis is right about the puritanical left. Though I see how easy it is to get caught in this. Prohibition is everywhere....dont drive an SUV, dont eat meat, dont watch Hollywood film. All of this has a rational basis...and sometimes is correct and not puritanical. But the general construct for authenticity becomes closely alligned with non-pleasure. A sub conscious sort of puritanism seems to reside in everything.