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Doing it for themselves

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Date Issued:
2012
Summary:
Whereas male masturbation has generally been normalized by being the butt of friendly jokes and a popular subject in romantic comedies, the predominant discourse surrounding female masturbation, both in society and the movies, is silence and stigmatization. However, female masturbation is symbolically powerful because it signifies a female sexuality that is not dependent on male presence. This thesis seeks to explore depictions of female masturbation, specifically looking at how female characters who engage in autoeroticism are stigmatized, controlled or silenced. This thesis will also explore the minority of depictions that show the act as liberating in films like Pleasantville (1998) and Better than Chocolate (1999).
Title: Doing it for themselves: sexual subjectivity in cinematic depictions of female autoeroticism.
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Name(s): Tomei, Megan.
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2012
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: vi, 118 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Whereas male masturbation has generally been normalized by being the butt of friendly jokes and a popular subject in romantic comedies, the predominant discourse surrounding female masturbation, both in society and the movies, is silence and stigmatization. However, female masturbation is symbolically powerful because it signifies a female sexuality that is not dependent on male presence. This thesis seeks to explore depictions of female masturbation, specifically looking at how female characters who engage in autoeroticism are stigmatized, controlled or silenced. This thesis will also explore the minority of depictions that show the act as liberating in films like Pleasantville (1998) and Better than Chocolate (1999).
Identifier: 835952991 (oclc), 3359163 (digitool), FADT3359163 (IID), fau:4061 (fedora)
Note(s): by Megan Tomei.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012.
Includes bibliography.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Adobe Reader.
Subject(s): Female masturbation
Women -- Sexual behavior
Feminist theory
Women in motion pictures
Sex customs
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359163
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU