Sexually Explicit Art Feminist Theory and Gender in the 1970s

<p>Structured around sexual desire as the central analytical category, this monograph systematically approaches a heterogeneous array of artworks to purposefully examine the entanglements of art, feminist theory, gender, and sexuality. </p><p>This book considers the potential of sexually explicit art to challenge a socially constructed conception of sexuality as well as gender, and explores the sexually explicit as a means to (re-)claim agency for marginalized subjectivities and to emancipate desire from within the patriarchal and heteronormative system. In distinct case studies, the author focuses on works by four US-American artists – Robert Mapplethorpe, Joan Semmel, Betty Tompkins, and Tee A. Corinne – and situates them in relation to contemporaneous debates associated with the insurgent Sexual Liberation Movements of the 1970s. </p><p>The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, visual culture, and gender and sexuality studies.</p> <p>Introduction 1. A Malleable Body 2. Through the Object’s Eye 3. Feminist Pleasures/Pleasurable Feminism 4. Libidinal Disruptions and Homosexual Desire 5. Conclusion</p>