The subject of this dissertation consists of strong themes of female nudity and pornography. Explicit images will be shown. The reader should be aware that this dissertation consists of adult mature material that has been approved by LEAS.
This dissertation will be addressing the sexualization and sexually submissive depiction of the female body, in multimedia: primarily photography. The study will begin within the early 19th century, displaying the differentiation of representation of female nudity from a patriarchal perspective, in the modernistic period to the post modernistic period. The key questions being addressed in this dissertation are:
How do patriarchal values explain the submissiveness of women in erotic imagery? How does pornography and raunch culture affect (post-)modern culture?
These questions will be answered through the key theoretical concepts of David Bates, Liz Wells, Laura Mulvey and Daniel Linz & Neil Malamuth. These scholars integrate complex perspectives of the patriarchal and feminist theories, to enlighten new ways of seeing the nude female form. These research questions are important to understand whether humanities perspectives on the female form encourages positive afflictions of encouragement in the nude and pornographic industry; or inciting dangerous themes of fetishization that can inflict an unsafe environment for the generations to come.
The submissive depiction of women, despite the development of female portrayal through the female gaze and raunch culture, can still be presented as submissive to this day. This is due to the male gaze, in pornographic and nude imagery, being the preferred form of erotic imagery. Thus, resulting in a fundamental affect within the post modernistic period of the present day, as in modernistic values opposing the female body in a submissive interpretation are still being consulted upon.
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