Sexual Personae

Level: Undergraduate, Graduate

Division: The New School for Public Engagement

School: School of Media Studies

Department: Media Studies

Course Number: NMDS 5123

Course Format: Lecture

Location: NYC campus

Permission Required: No

Topics:

• Film & Video History, Theory & Criticism
• Media Studies

Description:
This course examines the cultural construction of female sexuality by comparing and contrasting works created within the sex industry, promoted by mass media, and produced by women artists using sexually explicit material. We will develop a discourse on gender politics by examining the culturally constructed relationship of male/female desire; the female perspective of sexual arousal; the commodification of sexuality and the queer reconstruction of sexual identity. Works to be screened range from classic pornography, Behind the Green Door and Deep Throat, to exploitation films by Doris Wishman and Russ Meyer, to experimental works by Barbara Rubin, Barbara Hammer, and Annie Sprinkle and a wide range of contemporary, cutting-edge films. Readings will include classic literature such as Story of the Eye, contemporary theories by Robert Stoller, Linda Williams, Pat Califia, and Judith Butler, and legal documents on censorship, such as the Meese Commission Report.

Restrictions:

College

Open to New School Public Engagement students.

Level

Open to Graduate students.

Major

Open to Documentary Media Studies students.

Open to Environmental Studies students.

Open to Global Studies students.

Open to International Affairs students.

Open to Liberal Arts students.

Open to Media Studies students.

Open to Media Management students.

Open to Media Management students.