Women in society, from ancient times to the present day, have faced a multitude of struggles. The issue of sexuality is particularly critical for women's lives. If a person's personality is the sum of his or her characteristics, including attitude, interests, emotionality, and behavioral patterns, then sexuality is a part of that identity. As people we are proud of who we are and are taught that self-esteem is important for our mental health. In our society, however, women are programmed to shame their sexuality and, consequently, themselves. This is a big contradiction. Women should be encouraged to embrace their sexuality in a confident and positive way and to seek the empowerment and self-discovery that can come from it. The repression of natural sexuality and erotic energies in women can in many ways have negative effects. Sexuality is a part of who we are, just as belonging to a certain ethnicity is a part of one's self and identity. To know someone who refuses to accept that they are, for example, African American is to know a deeply conflicted human being. A similar conflict is placed on women when the dominant discourse tells them to deny their sexuality. The same sense of unhealthy self-denial applies. Ideologies of objectification and the forced repression of sexuality agglomerate and monopolize women's lives. Healthy sexual self-discovery is replaced by the adaptation of widely accessible representations (such as media representations) of women (Costa, Nogueira, Lopez 6). A woman, instead of being able to find her sexuality and grow into her female identity, may on the contrary be forced to accept gender normativeness and play with stereotypes because "according to society" these are women's identities. Here is a woman's account... in the middle of the paper... our various life efforts bring us closer to that fullness” (54.55). Eroticism is very much rooted in a strong self-understanding, fundamental to the self-esteem that women in society, of every culture, so desperately need. There are many ways in which dominant discourse works to shape women's lives into boxes. These pre-packaged boxes are often missing: power, understanding, value, fulfillment, pleasure, pride, choice and esteem. These things have a lot of importance for acquiring a better life for women and for eradicating the contradiction that is specifically imposed on women, thus facilitating lives that are empowered and confident. By denying the ways in which women are oppressed through our social systems and cultural framework, especially sexually, we begin to rightfully encourage a better quality of life for all women..