In the Home

One of the primary sets of meanings

in the semiotics of the home

is the distinction between what is inside,

and what is outside.

Play with this dichotomy, create ambiguities,

and you create areas of fascination.

Patios are outside, but their cosiness, paving, presence of table and chairs, refreshments, etc

suggest they are in some ways inside. Conservatories are inside,

but allow the growing of plants of a size and number

one might associate more with the outside,

and the presence of whole walls of glass, too, suggests the outside.

Atriums, too, offer this ambiguity.

And so do Jacuzzis.

Indeed, Jacuzzis are particularly intriguing,

because they violate not just the outside/inside dichotomy,

but also the private/public one.

Some rooms are regarded as places guests can go,

others not.

Some are places you go alone,

some where you are with others.

Some are places you can be naked,

some where you have to remain discretely clothed.

What are the rules on Jacuzzis?

Not written yet.

If you regard it as a place where bathing is a relaxation

rather than a way of getting clean, then you would

perhaps be naked, as in your own bath.

But the Jacuzzi is outside,

OK if your garden is secluded,

but not if it is open to the world.

What if it is in between, mostly secluded?

The precedent has been set with sunbathing in the buff.

If you can argue that anyone who sees you, chose to,

rather than being a surprised innocent, then what’s the harm?

Same with a Jacuzzi?

OK, so you get used to bathing naked in your Jacuzzi.

But of course, a Jacuzzi is a major investment,

and you want to show it off. Friends and would-be friends want to try it out.

Now what? Naked or not?

They don’t know the rules, nor do you,

because it’s a grey area. Just think of the possibilities…

But of course, we are not left to dream up seductive thoughts like that all on our own.

Advertisers know exactly what possibilities these new inside/outside,

public/private violations offer, and what will sell them.

If we hadn’t already thought of the possibilities,

they are happy to suggest them…

”Not only are the kitchen and the bathroom

the most extravagant rooms in many houses,

they are often (as a consequence) the most displayed to visitors.

And not only are they marketed as “sexy” (in the loose general sense of “desirable” and “expensive”),

they have become places we think of as suitable for assignations:

with a spouse, lover – or that most seductive of partners, the room itself.

“An issue of House & Garden devoted to

“Perfect Powder Rooms” and “Bathing Luxuries from Soaking Tubs to Fabulous Fixtures”

opens with a two page frontispiece ad from American Standard Plumbing

that pictures a romantically candlelit tub, sink, and toilet.

The headline reads,

“A great place to read ROMANCE NOVELS

or for that matter to RE-ENACT THEM.””

Marjory Garber

‘Sex and Real Estate’

Pantheon Books,

NY, 2000.