Sexually Explicit Art, Feminist Theory, and Gender in the 1970s

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.

Sexually Explicit Art, Feminist Theory, and Gender in the 1970s considers the potential of sexually explicit art to challenge a socially constructed conception of sexuality as well as gender. It explores the sexually explicit as a means to (re-)claim agency for marginalised 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.

This book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, visual culture, and gender and sexuality studies.