There are, primarily, two considered pleasure philosophies that are projected as pathways to happiness. Eudemonism, pleasure derived through purpose, and Hedonism, pleasure for pleasure’s sake.
Eudemonism is a well-worn path for women – we have responsibilities as mothers, partners, friends, feminists, nurturers and professionals, and we pursue these paths in an attempt to strive for our own personal meaning and purpose within the parameters of a restrictive patriarchy. But we tend to lose ourselves in our ‘meaningful roles’, forgoing the actual pursuit of pleasure and instead experience fatigue and imbalance from giving too much.
Hedonism, on the other hand, is a more self-focussed pathway and traditionally defined within a very male-centric experience (e.g. Hemingway-inspired booze-fuelled orgies of meaningless excess etc). As Sunday Lucas puts it in her Issue 01 feature Contemporary Hedonism, “Pleasure was framed as something that belonged to men – women were expected to be the passive objects of male pleasure rather than the active pursuers of it. In fact, women, historically, have been conditioned to feel guilty for embracing hedonism.”
So how do we break this narrative and learn to identify the individual uniqueness of different pleasure paths? How do we balance our Eudemonism and embrace Hedonism? Once we actively engage our curiosities, remove shame and judgement, and take control of our desires, pleasure is ours. Let’s start by asking ourselves, “What does pleasure mean to me?”
And that is why we made Moi – a magazine about pleasure.
Three years in the making. Blood, sweat and tears. Pleasure, experimentation and enquiry. Moi was born of curiosity, pain, rage, love, friendship, conviction and passion. An act of rebellion. A place where we satisfy curiosity with stories of courage, experimentation, creativity and pleasure.
In these pages we explore the many layered dimensions of pleasure. We do, absolutely, offer content designed to stimulate {wink wink}, but Moi approaches pleasure with a broader and distinctly women-focused lens, allowing the experience to be so much more expansive.
Beyond physical sensation, we often overlook the wider range of sensory pleasures that can be just as powerful. Accessing our senses – sight, sound, smell, taste and touch – opens us up to a world of multifaceted stimulation and illuminated pleasure possibilities. Information is sexy, pleasure is your right and Moi is made for you.
Moi was created from the desire to provide a space to rekindle our relationship with what feels good. To actively give ourselves permission to seek out – and experience – what brings us pleasure. To satisfy our inherent curiosity.
We are nurturers, care takers, mothers, partners, friends, feminists, professionals. We have given – now it’s our turn to dive head first with reckless abandon into an ocean of pleasure, feeling the waves of joy, ecstasy, knowledge and community reverberate through you.
And this is just the beginning. Welcome to Moi – a space to explore, enquire and excite. Marvel at the journey, seek out pleasure and get ready to turn it on. We invite you to satisfy curiosity and enjoy.
