White Lotus's Girlboss Sex Workers Are Today's Ultimate Female Fantasy | Opinion

HBO's pop culture sensation, White Lotus, just finished its second season, culminating another buzzy phenomenon that gripped viewers and generated hosts of hot takes, just like House of the Dragon and Europhia. HBO's knack for showcasing transgressive, finger-on-the-pulse storytelling distinguishes it as the home of some of the most popular prestige television for modern audiences, known for capturing and reflecting the generational zeitgeist in funny but also shocking or disturbing ways.

White Lotus is no exception. The show's plot ostensibly follows a murder mystery at a luxury Sicilian resort and quickly devolves into an intense psycodrama of opportunism, cruelty and excess in seven short episodes. With its ruthless examination of the hostile and transactional sexual politics of our times, the show holds up a mirror to the festering tensions of our current moment.

The show features a myriad of chaotic, compelling and abject characters, but two particular breakout stars have thrilled young women on social media with their aspirational allure: Mia and Lucia, two young Sicillian sex workers played by Simona Tabasco and Beatrice Grannò, who open the season as starry-eyed dreamers, ready to take the world by storm. Lucia longs to escape the mundanity of provincial life, while Mia, her plucky, musically talented friend, wants to be a singer. But their Disnified origin stories are starkly contrasted with the callous and opportunistic ways we see Mia and Lucia commodify their sexuality as they flit around the White Lotus luxury resort and live their "Material Girl" dreams through sex work and manipulation.

Mia and Lucia have become aspirational rock stars for the OnlyFans, Instagram, TokTok dating app generation, whose view of sexuality is similarly shaped by a callous and transactional social media culture that dangles the same carrot of fulfillment through aspirational imagery. Mia and Lucia have been immortalized as embodiments of the modern feminine ideal: empowered, glamorous and fiercely ambitious, sending the message to young women that transactional sexuality is empowering—smart even, and the fastest route to an aspirational, enviable life.

When we are first introduced to Mia and Lucia, the show sets the tone for what to expect right away: Mia expresses longing for her lover back home, but Lucia, the more worldly one of the pair, chastises her friend for wasting emotions on romantic ideals instead of using her youth and beauty to get ahead.

Lucia's utilitarian view of the world is proven correct by the plot; as the season unfolds, both girls experience the ultimate feminine fantasy of glamor and excess after Mia successfully seduces the hotel manager and scores a coveted spot singing at the piano in the prestigious resort, and Lucia successfully swindles a naive young man out of 50,000 euros.

Despite the fact that we clearly see the girls manipulating and even endangering themselves and others to get ahead, every dream they have comes true, every aspiration is fulfilled and in the end (Spoiler Alert!) the final scene depicts them joyously leaping through a beautiful Sicilian street at sunset.

White Lotus does not cast moralistic aspersions on these hustling, cool-girl sex workers; instead, it attempts to objectively examine the exhilaration and moral ambiguity in situations where transactional sexual relationships are the norm. Mia and Lucia's whirlwind adventure is portrayed as every girl's dream, the ultimate feminine fantasy of exotic locations, endless Champagne, cute outfits, and shopping sprees.

What better intoxication for modern female audiences than a Cinderella story given prestige by an empowerment narrative that elevates the ideal of having it all, being in control, and gaining empowerment through transactional sexuality?

The crushing realities of sex work and it's inevitable association with exploitation are hidden from view in White Lotus, as they frequently are in online life. After all, these realities are deeply inconvenient for the emerging sex worker archetype of female empowerment in a period where transactional relationships are becoming an aspirational goal for young people.

The absurdly happy ending that Mia and Lucia get at the end of the season acts as a kind of wish fulfillment for a generation increasingly fascinated with the glamorous side of sex work. But it exposes a major shift in values. Transactional sexuality is not only viewed as an acceptable path to social mobility but also a path to material security and freedom by an increasing number of young women, in White Lotus as in life, especially in the uncertain economic climate that we find ourselves in.

It's no secret that Millenials and Gen Zers are economically worse off than previous generations. Milestones that were once commonplace, like owning a starter home, climbing the career ladder, and attaining material stability, are often delayed for this generation, making shortcuts—especially those that trade on the attention economy—appealing, along with the anti-social impulses that come along with attempting to cut corners.

From sugar babies to elaborate crypto currency scams and schemes, trying to find a way out of the hum-drum miasma of 21st century life by any means necessary is the central theme in the collective imagination of young people today.

The empowerment fantasies that a culture indulges in through entertainment tells you everything you need to know about who that culture is and what that culture values. The fawning response of active young women on social media to the wish fulfillment fantasy of two carefree, "empowered" Sicilian sex workers reveals that the idea of commodifying sex as the the ultimate path to success for women is becoming a more popular mentality than most of us could have anticipated.

Angie Speak is the cohost of the Low Society Podcast.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.