Let’s be perfectly blunt about this: Janet takes the brunt of the judgment, and this could easily be misconstrued as being aimed at the fact that she’s a woman. When we first meet Janet, she’s a virgin. In the course of an evening, Janet is stripped down to her virginal white undergarments in front of a group of strangers, receives oral sex from Frank under the promise of “don’t tell Brad,” then loses her virginity to Rocky. Her virginity is mocked by Magenta and Columbia, marking her status as sexually uninitiated as something of a joke; however, once she gains some experience, she’s judged even more harshly by those around her. Frank chases her around and threatens bodily harm, Magenta glares, and pretty much everyone makes snarky comments about her recent sexual activities. Hell, the audience is quite possibly the worst offender: part of the participation piece is to scream “SLUT!” at her. And why? Because she had the audacity to engage in sex acts with multiple people in a night? For some people, that’s Tuesday, and there’s nothing wrong with that. On the outside, it’s easy to see where someone could think that Janet gets the raw deal because she’s a woman, but then we run into the Brad issue: Brad (Barry Bostwick) passes judgment on anyone that’s outside of his small sphere, and he gets labeled an asshole for it by the audience. He screws around with Frank and gets put on display the same way that Janet does in terms of his state of undress. He endures comments about how milquetoast he is in his personality, as well as how he needs to unleash the inner tiger (a thinly-veiled criticism for not having sex); Brad is, to put it succinctly, a square. Make no mistake: Brad is still judged by both the other characters and the audience in a similar fashion to Janet. Damned when they don’t have sex, and still viewed with contempt when they do.

Frank, however, gets away with having multiple partners of both genders, which in a sense precludes him from the audience and character judgment in the same manner as Janet and Brad. When first in the lab, Frank flirts with both Brad and Janet, later engaging in sex acts with them both. He builds a man to his preference amidst a lab full of phallic exercise equipment, with the express purpose of making Rocky a sex slave. Rocky wasn’t created to have stimulating conversation: Frank makes it clear that Rocky is valued for his looks and sexual performance. Frank also treats the creature as an object, reducing Rocky to a possession rather than a person. He’s not even an old softie at heart – he fucking murders Eddie while everyone stands around! However, these actions get written off as just Frank being Frank. It’s implied that he’s slept with pretty much everyone in the castle; he’s prone to outbursts; he likes to have things done his way. These are all aspects of Frank, and while he’s generally regarded as ill-tempered, Frank gets a pass for the majority of the film because he’s outrageous Dr. Frank N. Furter.

So the question then turns to why Frank is allowed to sleep with everything that’s not nailed down while Brad and Janet receive scorn. The hard truth of this (see what I did there?) lies in the fact that the authenticity and ease of personal acceptance of Brad and Janet’s actions – as well as the social norms they represent – are what earns them the scorn rather than the deviant behavior itself. Brad and Janet start out as judgy squares that refuse to acknowledge their sexuality. They aren’t in control of their actions, as the encounters are initiated by others rather than their own senses of desire. Brad and Janet are a study is the difficulty of overcoming not only the enjoyable aspects of sex, but in the need to accept one’s desires and impulses as part of themselves. Sex shouldn’t have to be something to overcome, which creates the sense of unrest that the audience and other characters feast upon. Frank, on the other hand, owns all of his actions. He openly admits to any and all sexual activity. The only costume changes we see on Frank are amendments to his original garb: leather jacket, lab coat, cape. Brad and Janet, by contrast, have to get stripped down to begin a transformation, and even then, they’re uncomfortable. It’s this quiet acceptance of who he is – by Frank himself and the rest of the participants, whether cast or audience – that separates his actions from those of Brad and Janet. Everyone may be getting down, but Frank is the one without a sense of shame. Therefore, Frank’s self-acceptance leaves others to accept him as he is, establishing him as functioning outside of social custom and dictate.

Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching states, “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” In this respect, Frank represents the acceptance of the self, therefore making him a wise man. A man in tune with his desire, that does not descriminate, and seeks to awaken what’s buried in others does fit the profile presented. Frank is the Sherpa on the mountain to Pleasuretown, and as a result, the audience respects him for this. Frank is not a slut like Janet or an asshole like Brad. He’s simply the mad scientist that likes to have indiscriminate sex, free of all labels.