The Vagina - A Literary and Cultural History

From South Park to Kathy Acker, from Lars Von Trier to Sex and the City , women's sexual organs are demonized. In The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History , Emma L.E. Rees investigates the evolution of this demonization: she considers how writers, artists and filmmakers contend with the dilemma of he vagina's puzzling 'covert visibility' and how the 'c-word' is an obscenity that both legitimates and perpetuates the fractured identities of women globally. In our postmodern, porn-obsessed culture, vaginas appear to be everywhere, literally or symbolically but, crucially, they are as silenced as they are objectified. Even common slang terms for the vagina can be seen as an attempt to divert attention away from the reality of women's lived sexual experiences: slang offers a convenient distraction from something taboo. The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History is an important contribution to the ongoing debate in understanding the feminine identity.

Product details

• Authors: Emma L E Rees, Emma L. E. Rees, Emma L.E. Rees, Senior Lecturer Emma L. E. Rees
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 26.02.2015
• EAN: 9781628922127
• ISBN: 978-1-62892-212-7
• No. of pages: 376
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 230 mm x 25 mm
• Series: Bloomsbury Academic USA
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Media Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Feminism & Feminist Theory, LITERARY CRITICISM / Feminist, Feminism & feminist theory, Literary studies: general, Feminism and feminist theory