Being gorgeous : feminism, sexuality and the pleasures of the visual. / Jacki Willson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Willson, Jacki, author.

Series:

International library of cultural studies ; 27.

International Library of Cultural Studies ; 27

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Feminine beauty (Aesthetics).

Femininity.

Sex role.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (242 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

[London, England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.

Place of Publication:

London [England] : I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2015.

Summary:

Being Gorgeous explores the ways in which extravagance, flamboyance and dressing up can open up possibilities for women to play around anarchically with familiar stereotypical tropes of femininity. This is protest through play - a pleasurable misbehaviour that reflects a feminism for the twenty-first century. Jacki Willson discusses how, whether through pastiche, parody, or pure pleasure, artists, artistes and indeed the spectators themselves can operate in excess of the restrictive images which saturate our visual culture. By referring to a wide spectrum of examples, including Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, Matthew Barney, Dr Sketchy's, Audacity Chutzpah, Burly Q and Carnesky's Ghost Train, Being Gorgeous demonstrates how contemporary female performers embody, critique and thoroughly relish their own representation by inappropriately re-appropriating femininity.

Contents:

Introduction: Being Gorgeous and Feminism

Part One: Sexuality, Gender & the Art & Erotics of Visual Extravagance. 1 Drop Dead Gorgeous ; 2 Skin Deep

Part Two: The Pleasure of the Visual (Being Gorgeous and the 'Low'). 3 Crinoline & Cupcakes ; 4 Powder Puff & Beauty Spots

Part Three: Bitter-Sweet Poetry (Being Gorgeous and the 'High'). 5 The Paradoxical Body ; 6 The Sensual Body ; 7 Pleasure, Violence & the Sensual Spectacle ; 8 Creative Spectatorship & the Political Imagination

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 214-223) and index.

Print version record.

ISBN:

9780857739995

0857739999

9780755693979

0755693973

9781780762845

1780762844

9780857726919

0857726919

OCLC:

919297221