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Sexy, hedonistic, hilarious - Ann Summers parties are the ultimate girls'' night in. Promising the perfect antidote to the toils of everyday life - sexual pleasure - they are the ''naughty but nice'' version of the classic Tupperware party. Ann Summers parties are incredibly popular, with around 4000 parties held in Britain every week. The basis is simple: to provide an all-female environment where women can buy sexy lingerie, erotic fashion, sex toys and other sex-related products. In many respects these parties enable women to transgress social taboos in the comfort of their own homes. But they are also a subtle means of constructing and enforcing heterosexual femininity. This book investigates what really goes on at these ''special'' homosocial gatherings, where heterosexual women drink, laugh, shop, play party games and talk about sex. Storr develops a new analysis of the ways heterosexual women identify with and against each other - and of what this tells us about gender, sexuality and consumption in contemporary society. Drawing on both participant observation and in-depth interviews with party organizers, this fascinating and fun book is an indispensable guide to the politics of ''post-feminist'' culture.>
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
1 Introducing Ann Summers
The Ann Summers Party Plan
Ann Summers @ a typical party plan?
Researching Ann Summers
Liquorice allsorts
'The No 1 Fun Company'
Personality, skill and emotional labour
'Young mums'
Ann Summers as post-feminist fun
Hidden depths
About this book
2 'The Ultimate Girls' Night In'
Conceptualising Homosociality
Male homosociality
Female homosociality
Ann Summers and Female Homosociality
Helping women to serve the interests of men
Being one of the girls
Lesbophobia
Summary and Conclusion
3 Objects of Desire
Ann Summers Parties for Men?
She Likes Men
Feeling sexy
Men in uniform @ 'hello boys!'
'All that's Missing in the Man!'
The penis and the phallus
Pass my penis
Feel it, believe it!
Summary and Conclusion
4 Feminine Bodies, Feminine Pleasures
The Heterosexual Female Erogenous Body at Ann Summers Parties
Technique and interior zones
Technique and exterior zones
Erogenous functions
The Female Homosocial Body at Ann Summers Parties
The homosocial body's oral pleasures
The homosocial body's vocal pleasures
The homosocial body's tactile pleasures
The homosocial body's visual pleasures
Summary and Conclusion
5 Classy Lingerie
Peeling the Lemon
Homosocial Underwear
The girls go shopping
Luxury/utility
Sleaze/respectability
Eroticism/domesticity
Summary and Conclusion
6 Conclusion
References
Index
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Merl Storr
