This book offers an erudite yet highly accessible exploration of the presence of sexual perversion in popular culture and its manifestation in everyday life. An interdisciplinary exploration of sexual perversion in everyday life, Part-Time Perverts: Sex, Pop Culture, and Kink Management starts from the premise that, for better or worse, everyone is exposed to a continual barrage of representations of sexual perversion, both subliminal and overt. Our involvement, Dr. Lauren Rosewarne contends, is universal, but our management strategies cover a spectrum of behavioral possibilities from total repression to total immersion. It is those strategies that she examines here. Drawing on her own experience, as well as on pop culture and a multidisciplinary mix of theory, Rosewarne shifts the discussion of perversion away from the traditional psychological and psychiatric focus and instead explores it through a feminist lens as a social issue that affects everyone. Her book examines representations of perversion-from suppression to dabbling to full-body immersion-and proposes a classification for perversion management, and charts the diverse strategies we use to manage, and perhaps enjoy, exposure. A bibliography of over 400 reference-text-based items including books, journal articles, and news items A media reference list of over 100 films, 100 songs, and 75 television programs referred to in the text

Written by an expert in media, popular culture, gender, and sexuality, this book surveys the common archetypes of Internet users—from geeks, nerds, and gamers to hackers, scammers, and predators—and assesses what these stereotypes reveal about our culture's attitudes regarding gender, technology, intimacy, and identity. The Internet has enabled an exponentially larger number of people—individuals who are members of numerous and vastly different subgroups—to be exposed to one other. As a result, instead of the simple "jocks versus geeks" paradigm of previous eras, our society now has more detailed stereotypes of the undesirable, the under-the-radar, and the ostracized: cyberpervs, neckbeards, goths, tech nerds, and anyone with a non-heterosexual identity. Each chapter of this book explores a different stereotype of the Internet user, with key themes—such as gender, technophobia, and sexuality—explored with regard to that specific characterization of online users. Author Lauren Rosewarne, PhD, supplies a highly interdisciplinary perspective that draws on research and theories from a range of fields—psychology, sociology, and communications studies as well as feminist theory, film theory, political science, and philosophy—to analyze what these stereotypes mean in the context of broader social and cultural issues. From cyberbullies to chronically masturbating porn addicts to desperate online-daters, readers will see the paradox in popular culture's message: that while Internet use is universal, actual Internet users are somehow subpar—less desirable, less cool, less friendly—than everybody else.

America's often-unspoken morality codes make many topics taboo in "the land of the free." This book analyzes hundreds of popular culture examples to expose how the media both avoids and alludes to how we derive pleasure from our bodies. Flatulence ... male nudity ... abortion ... masturbation: these are just a few of the taboo topics in the United States. What do culturally enforced silences about certain subjects say about our society-and our latent fears? This work provides a broad yet detailed overview of popular culture's most avoided topics to explain why they remain off-limits and examines how they are presented in contemporary media-or, in many cases, delicately explored using euphemism and innuendo. The author offers fascinating, in-depth analysis of the meaning behind these portrayals of a variety of both mundane and provocative taboos, and identifies how new television programs, films, and advertising campaigns intentionally violate longstanding cultural taboos to gain an edge in the marketplace. Analyzes an enormous range of popular culture examples in a lively and highly readable writing style Identifies and examines 12 separate taboos of the media Provides interdisciplinary coverage that intersects with a wide variety of subject areas, including cultural studies, philosophy, feminism, and queer culture Offers not only in-depth descriptions of cultural taboos but also clear explanations of why they exist Supplies fascinating and useful information for general audiences as well as students and scholars of popular culture, political science, sexuality and gender studies, and sociology

Drawing on the author's own experience as "the other woman" in an affair with am otherwise-committed man, this contemporary feminist study is the first to label the role of the two-timing male as "sexual terrorist." Cheating on the Sisterhood: Infidelity and Feminism is a feminist analysis of the imbroglio of sexual politics, brute sociobiology, and pop-mediated passion that is conjured up when a married man cheats on his wife with a younger, single woman. Drawing frankly on her own experience as the "other woman," Lauren Rosewarne scrutinizes the alternate readings of the politics of cheating in terms of feminism's program of gender equality. Arguing that contemporary feminism does not automatically endorse or reject any particular choices, she shows what happens when all three parties to the classic triangle happen to be feminists, each trotting out a different set of feminist arguments to justify, vilify, and rationalize his or her actions. Is the "other woman," this book asks, just a tool of the cheating man's assertion of gender dominance over both his mate and his mistress-and a willy-nilly a traitor to the sisterhood?

This examination of film and television remakes focuses explicitly on why - since the dawn of cinema - studios have remade films over and over again. Each chapter provides insight into the business of Hollywood, the motivations of filmmakers and also the pleasures for audiences, and offers a separate explanation for the whys of remaking. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, the author draws from existing literature, close readings of films and a dataset of hundreds of film reviews, to provide a taxonomy and deep-dive into six unique rationales for remaking premade titles: the better remake the economic remake the nostalgic remake the Americanized remake the creative remake the fashionable remake. This unique examination of the industrial activity of remaking will be of great interest to academics and students working in the areas of film and adaptation studies, narrative, media discourse, transmedia storytelling, American cinema and cultural studies.

Film plays a vital role in the celebration of Christmas. For decades, it has taught audiences about what the celebration of the season looks like - from the decorations to the costumes and to the expected snowy weather - as well as mirrors our own festivities back to us. Films like It's a Wonderful Life and Home Alone have come to play key roles in real-life domestic celebrations: watching such titles has become, for many families, every bit as important as tree-trimming and leaving cookies out for Santa. These films have exported the American take on the holiday far and wide and helped us conjure an image of the perfect holiday. Rather than settling the 'what is a Christmas film?' debate - indeed, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon are discussed within - Analyzing Christmas in Film: Santa to the Supernatural focuses on the how Christmas is presented on the deluge of occasions when it appears. While most Christmas films are secular, religion makes many cameos, appearing through Nativity references, storylines involving spiritual rebirth, the framing of Santa as a Christ-like figure and the all-importance of family, be it the Holy family or just those gathered around the dining table. Also explored are popular narratives involving battles with stress and melancholy, single parents and Christmas martyrs, visits from ghosts and angels, big cities and small towns, break-ups and make-ups and the ticking clock of mortality. Nearly 1000 films are analyzed in this volume to determine what the portrayal of Christmas reveals about culture, society and faith as well as sex roles, consumerism, aesthetics and aspiration.

This examination of film and television remakes focuses explicitly on why - since the dawn of cinema - studios have remade films over and over again. Each chapter provides insight into the business of Hollywood, the motivations of filmmakers and also the pleasures for audiences, and offers a separate explanation for the whys of remaking. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, the author draws from existing literature, close readings of films and a dataset of hundreds of film reviews, to provide a taxonomy and deep-dive into six unique rationales for remaking premade titles: the better remake the economic remake the nostalgic remake the Americanized remake the creative remake the fashionable remake. This unique examination of the industrial activity of remaking will be of great interest to academics and students working in the areas of film and adaptation studies, narrative, media discourse, transmedia storytelling, American cinema and cultural studies.

Through reference to over six hundred scenes from film and television-as well as a diverse and cross-disciplinary academic bibliography-Masturbation in Pop Culture investigates the role that masturbation serves within narratives while simultaneously mirroring our complicated relationship with the practice in real life and sparking discussions about a broad range of hot-button sexual subjects. From sitcoms to horror movies, teen comedies to erotic thrillers, autoeroticism is easily detected on screen. The portrayal, however, is not a simple one. Just as in real life a paradox exists where most of us masturbate and accept it as normal and natural, there simultaneously exists a silence about it; that we do it, but we don't talk about it; that we enjoy it but we laugh about it. The screen reflects this conflicted relationship. It is there-hundreds and hundreds of times-but it is routinely whispered about, mocked and presented as a punchline, and is inevitably portrayed as controversial at the very least. Masturbation in Pop Culture investigates the embarrassment and squeamishness, sexiness and inappropriateness of masturbation, showcasing and analyzing how our complex off screen relationship is mirrored in film and television.

The focus of this book is on the media representations of the use of the Internet in seeking intimate connections-be it a committed relationship, a hook-up, or a community in which to dabble in fringe sexual practices. Popular culture (film, narrative television, the news media, and advertising) present two very distinct pictures of the use of the Internet as related to intimacy. From news reports about victims of online dating, to the presentation of the desperate and dateless, the perverts and the deviants, a distinct frame for the intimacy/Internet connection is negativity. In some examples however, a changing picture is emerging. The ubiquitousness of Internet use today has meant a slow increase in comparatively more positive representations of successful online romances in the news, resulting in more positive-spin advertising and a more even-handed presence of such liaisons in narrative television and film. Both the positive and the negative media representations are categorised and analysed in this book to explore what they reveal about the intersection of gender, sexuality, technology and the changing mores regarding intimacy.

Sex and Sexuality in Modern Screen Remakes examines how sexiness, sexuality and revisited sexual politics are used to modernize film and TV remakes. This exploration provides insight into the ever-evolving-and ever-contested-role of sex in society, and scrutinizes the politics and economics underpinning modern media reproduction. More nudity, kinky sex, and queer content are increasingly deployed in remakes to attract, and to titillate, a new generation of viewers. While sex in this book refers to increased erotic content, this discussion also incorporates an investigation of other uses of sex and gender to help a remake appear woke and abreast of the zeitgeist including feminist reimaginings and 'girl power' make-overs, updated gender roles, female cast-swaps, queer retellings, and repositioned gazes. Though increased sex is often considered a sign of modernity, gratuitous displays of female nudity can sometimes be interpreted as sexist and anachronistic, in turn highlighting that progressiveness around sexuality in contemporary media is not a linear story. Also examined therefore, are remakes that reduce the sexual content to appear cutting-edge and cognizant of the demands of today's audiences.

Menstruation seldom gets a starring role on screen despite being experienced regularly by nearly all women for a good many decades of their lives. Periods in Pop Culture: Menstruation in Film and Television, by Lauren Rosewarne, turns the spotlight on period portrayals in media, examining the presence of menstruation in a broad range of contemporary pop culture. Drawing on a vast collection of menstruation scenes from film and television, this study examines and categorizes representations to unearth what they reveal about society and about our culture's continuingly fraught relationship with female biology. Written from a feminist perspective, menstrual representations are analyzed for what they reveal about sexual politics and society. Rosewarne's thorough investigation covers a range of topics including menstrual taboos, stigmas and fears, as well as the inextricable link between periods and femininity, sexuality, ageing, and identity. Periods in Pop Culture highlights that the treatment of menstruation in the media remains an area of persistent gender inequality.

The focus of this book is on the media representations of the use of the Internet in seeking intimate connections-be it a committed relationship, a hook-up, or a community in which to dabble in fringe sexual practices. Popular culture (film, narrative television, the news media, and advertising) present two very distinct pictures of the use of the Internet as related to intimacy. From news reports about victims of online dating, to the presentation of the desperate and dateless, the perverts and the deviants, a distinct frame for the intimacy/Internet connection is negativity. In some examples however, a changing picture is emerging. The ubiquitousness of Internet use today has meant a slow increase in comparatively more positive representations of successful online romances in the news, resulting in more positive-spin advertising and a more even-handed presence of such liaisons in narrative television and film. Both the positive and the negative media representations are categorised and analysed in this book to explore what they reveal about the intersection of gender, sexuality, technology and the changing mores regarding intimacy.

Sex and Sexuality in Modern Screen Remakes examines how sexiness, sexuality and revisited sexual politics are used to modernize film and TV remakes. This exploration provides insight into the ever-evolving-and ever-contested-role of sex in society, and scrutinizes the politics and economics underpinning modern media reproduction. More nudity, kinky sex, and queer content are increasingly deployed in remakes to attract, and to titillate, a new generation of viewers. While sex in this book refers to increased erotic content, this discussion also incorporates an investigation of other uses of sex and gender to help a remake appear woke and abreast of the zeitgeist including feminist reimaginings and 'girl power' make-overs, updated gender roles, female cast-swaps, queer retellings, and repositioned gazes. Though increased sex is often considered a sign of modernity, gratuitous displays of female nudity can sometimes be interpreted as sexist and anachronistic, in turn highlighting that progressiveness around sexuality in contemporary media is not a linear story. Also examined therefore, are remakes that reduce the sexual content to appear cutting-edge and cognizant of the demands of today's audiences.