Striptease Culture

Brian McNair

From advertising to health education campaigns, sex and sexual imagery now permeate every aspect of culture. Striptease Culture explores this 'sexualization' of contemporary life, relating it to wider changes in post-war society. Divided into three sections, Striptease Culture first traces the development of pornography, following its movement from elite to mass culture and the contemporary fascination with 'porno-chic'. In part two McNair considers popular cultural forms of sexual representation in the media. Moving from backlash elements in straight male culture and changing images of women to the representation of gays in contemporary film and television shows such as Ellen or Queer as Folk, McNair argues that the high profile of sexuality in contemporary culture, rather than evidence of moral decline, is a positive expression of post-war liberalism and the advance of feminism and...