One thing that not everybody fully appreciates is just how many levels and layers the patriarchy really has. Like peeling an onion, when you dig in you just keep finding more and more layers. And nothing about patriarchy has more levels and layers related to it than the topic of sexuality, which under patriarchy is quite a complex topic to say the least.
Patriarchy has had a very long history of repressing Women's sexuality. And such sexual repression has been proven to do more harm than good, and essentially all of patriarchy's archaic and repressive rules about sex were designed to control Women. That was originally done so men could be at least somewhat certain of paternity, as descent was reckoned (and inheritances were passed) through the male bloodline, though with the advent of modern birth control and paternity testing such a reason has basically become obsolete. Note the double standard of patriarchy in which Women are far more likely to be punished for sexual transgressions, and how men who sleep around are considered "studs" and "legends" while women who do so are considered "sluts" and "whores". In contrast, Matriarchal societies have historically been far more sexually free in general, since knowledge of paternity was basically a non-issue as descent was reckoned through the female bloodline.
Additionally, patriarchy's rules against masturbation, homosexuality, and birth control are really a result of the fact that patriarchy is one big Ponzi scheme (and protection racket) that requires very high birth rates to keep it afloat. Thus, anything that frustrates that goal is deemed sinful. Patriarchy considers Women to be the brood mares, while men are the work horses. And in today's overpopulated world, such rules are also obsolete as well. In Matriarchal societies, on the other hand, overpopulation would never even have occurred in the first place as Women would have complete sexual and reproductive freedom, and thus not have pregnancies forced upon them by men.
But wait, that is only the very first layer of this massive onion. Read on for more.
Of course, less often appreciated is how such outmoded rules also have the purpose and effect of indirectly controlling (non-alpha and non-elite) males as well, by keeping the "cost" of sex artificially and arbitrarily high as well. But on balance, the effects are far worse for Women, making patriarchy a negative-sum game overall even if a few come out ahead. This is basically the "commodity model" of sexuality, in which sex is something that men "take" from Women, as opposed to being a mutually beneficial and pleasurable act in itself. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how this model inevitably leads to rape culture.
So how does the commodity model ultimately benefit the patriarchy? It keeps non-alpha, non-elite males subject to the oligarchs at the top by working harder and harder to get sex, basically. And under patriarchy, that work is generally of the sort that serves to make the rich even richer, in the hopes of "earning" the "prize" of sex at the end of the rainbow. And it also makes men that much more aggressive, which patriarchy loves. But again, it is a massive Ponzi and pyramid scheme. Meanwhile, Women end up enforcing their own oppression by slut-shaming each other to artificially prop up the "cost" of sex in the "sexual marketplace", which undermines any attempt at a sisterhood which would be the greatest bulwark against the patriarchy. Divide and conquer, basically--both men against Women, and Women against Women. And the oligarchs just sit back and laugh.
(See a pattern here? This is the same sort of "artificial scarcity" that the patriarchy and oligarchy create with money, goods, and services in general. To them, sex is just another commodity or currency with which to control the masses.)
Too many layers yet? Well, we're still just barely scratching the surface here. Additionally, Women in general can gain power and psychological influence over men via their sexuality, and patriarchy would logically do everything they can to keep this from happening. Thus, Women's sexuality needs to be repressed even further. This is particularly true when older Women date or hook up with younger men, which is of course extremely taboo under patriarchy for primarily that very reason. A young man with an older Woman as a sort of "mentor with benefits" would seriously undermine the patriarchal agenda in so many ways.
The next layer is sexuality between Women themselves, i.e. lesbianism and bisexuality. A majority of Women, if not nearly all of them, have some sort of capacity in this regard to one degree or another. And as we see with the bonobos, what better way to encourage a strong sisterhood than through bonding sexually with one another? Of course, patriarchy would HATE that!
Still another layer, and probably the most complex and puzzling at first glance, is patriarchy's perennial love-hate relationship with sex work (i.e. prostitution, pornography, stripping, and stuff like that). On the one hand, patriarchs absolutely love to objectify and exploit Women sexually, both directly and in terms of profiting from it all, while on the other hand, they also fear the potential for Women gaining any sort of power through this avenue. So they tolerate it, but only insofar as men can totally control the trade, not Women. And they use the law as a cudgel in one way or another to do so. For porn specifically, those who control the propaganda essentially control the agenda. Additionally, this is also related to the patriarchy's love-hate relationship (you can see a pattern of ambivalence here) with nudity as well. They make it naughty and illicit, and hypersexualize it, because otherwise people would be desensitized to it, and would probably be a lot saner too. Can't have that, of course!
And still another layer to all of this is the fact that male-defined sexuality is the only kind of sexuality that patriarchy promotes, prioritizing male pleasure and conquest and rendering Female pleasure and well-being irrelevant. It is essentially men using Women as masturbation machines, and plays right into the hands of the patriarchy. Female-defined sexuality, the sort that prioritizes Female pleasure and perspective, of course, is what really throws a monkey wrench in the works of the patriarchy. And patriarchy will be damned if they ever let men learn about that.
Thus, we see how keeping the "cost" of sex artificially high ultimately serves and maintains the patriarchy, regardless of whether some individual Women may benefit from it. It's a Faustian bargain, and one that can never lead to a real Matriarchy in practice. (If it could, it would have already.)
And when Women finally reclaim their rightful position as the new leaders of the free world, I believe that our society will become truly sexually free once again, albeit with some concessions to modern times of course. In the meantime, we all need to stop slut-shaming Women yesterday. A "sexual cartel" is no substitute for a genuine sisterhood.
Let the planetary healing begin!
