Striptease Culture: Sex, Media and the Democratisation of Desire
by
Brian McNair
Summary
From advertising to health education campaigns, sex and sexual imagery now permeate every aspect of culture. Striptease Culture explores the ‘sexualization’ of contemporary life, relating it to wider changes in post-war society.
Striptease Culture is divided into three sections:
* Part one – traces the development of pornography, following its movement from elite to mass culture and the contemporary fascination with ‘porno-chic’
* Part two – considers popular cultural forms of sexual representation in the media, moving from backlash elements in straight male culture and changing images of women, to the representation of gays in contemporary film and television
* Part three – looks at the use of sexuality in contemporary art, examining the artistic ‘striptease’ of Jeff Koons, and others who have used their naked bodies in their work.
Also considering how feminist and gay artists have employed sexuality in the critique and transformation of patriarchy, the high profile of sexuality as a key contributor to public health education in the era of HIV and AIDS, and the implications of the rise of striptease culture for the future of sexual politics, Brian McNair has produced an excellent book in the study of gender, sexuality and contemporary culture. (Amazon)
Review
This book was side note recommendation from my tutor with regards to the content of assignment 2. however; I found it most useful as it was an education read on how to structure and shape academic writing, along with the book being a fascinating insight into the sexualisation of society.
The book focus’s quite a lot of the changes in the 80’s and 90’s, which I grew up through, with so it made the author’s theories and observations more tangible,