The sixteenth chapter of How to Read Literature Like a Professor has the sole purpose of introducing readers to the sexual potential in works of art. But Thomas C. Foster stresses that the sexuality lingering in a novel doesn’t have to be explicit and that in a great deal of older works it isn’t. He explains how different objects were used as symbols for certain reproductive organs in a sort of half-hearted censorship. His examples include lances and swords due to their phallic nature while chalices and bowls represent female sexual organs (Foster 147). This type of censorship can mostly be attributed to the Hayes Code but is also a result of a less permissive time.…
After WWI, the United States was the only country to come out with a strong economy. The country quickly switched from wartime to peacetime along with relative happiness that followed. The new era of success became known as the Roaring 20’s. The Roaring 20’s was a decade like no other in American history. The opulence experienced by the people during those years was also due to the many changes that happened.…
Sexual attitudes have changed tremendously throughout history. In the 19th century women were seen as inferior individuals and did not equal up to the status of a man. Education and beauty did not at all matter to the superior sex of males. Women’s roles, economic status, and social status were all dominated by the male society. Silence lingered among women during the 19th century.…
The 1950’s were a revolutionary period in Australian drama; it brought with it plenty of new playwrights with fresh and innovative ideas. A particular theme seem throughout all of these plays is the evolution of masculinity and it’s representation within Australian theatre. The 1950’s brought a change in content and style of Australian plays being written during that time compared to the previous decades, especially revolving around it’s male characters.…
Within the 1920’s there were new forms of entertainment being created as well as existing forms of entertainment being greatly expanded upon and reinvented which quickly became the norm of entertainment for the public. Movies were being produced very early in the 20’s but had no audio and instead played a song over the film. Movies were helping in educating teens as they provided a whole new way to teach, being a visual aid with moving pictures as opposed to text or audible learning. Due to the success of the film industry, they made a 300 million dollar investment in order to upgrade to movies which contained sound which was revolutionary at the time. This massive investment was soon easily paid off as the movie industry was making more money…
The 1920’s were an exciting time for the people of the United States of America. With technological advancements, the development and occurrence of flappers, and the number of people trying to achieve the American Dream, it is no wonder why this decade is so often referred to as “The Roaring Twenties” (History Learning Site). One of the most relevant characteristics of the twenties was the newly popular jazz music, which took everyone by storm. Through the popularity and influence of jazz, Americans of all different ethnicities and cultures were brought together.…
The Roaring Twenties is a term for western society and western culture in the 1920's. This era was also called the Jazz Age and the Age of Intolerance. The Roaring twenties was a period of sustained economic prosperity with a new cultural edge in the United States and Western Europe, mostly in major cities such as Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles,New York City,Paris, and Sydney. “In the French Third Republic, the decade was known as the "années folles" ("Crazy Years")” this name shows the era's social, artistic and cultural dynamics. Jazz music blossomed, the flapper redefined the modern look for British and American women, and Art Deco peaked.…
It comes to no surprise that the Western isn’t the most progressive genre when it comes to the topic of sex. Staking itself on historical accuracy, films of the genre generally portray sex as an act only to be performed by a married couple. The genre also portrays sex in another, more sinister light. Via the moral precepts of the mid 1900’s Hollywood, any instance of sex outside of this accepted institution had to be penalized, mainly in the form of death for the guilty party.…
Even though it was being done for the good of France, this sexuality was still seen as "dangerous" and "sinful," simply because it fell outside of what was considered proper sexuality. This once again enforced the ideas of sexual hierarchy that was based on sexual negativity. These conundrums of what to do with women after the war based on social change and population crisis were, in fact, baseless. This is because, contrary to popular discourse of the day, the postwar birthrate was considered to be a "healthy" one (123).…
According to Benshoff and Griffin (2009), sexuality is used to describe one’s sexual orientation. Generally, the level of sexuality in Hollywood films has remained consistent. However, when they present characters that have a different sexual orientation, rather than what society views as the “normal”, boy-and-girl, husband-and-wife-relationship, these characters are seemingly, made into a mockery (The Celluloid Closet, 1995). With the influence of media, it is acceptable to say that society favors heterosexism. This concept means that our people are orbited around the idea that heterosexuality is the only natural sexual orientation and should be superior above all others (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009, p. 306).…
Sexuality was of no question, because sexual activities with the same sex was unheard of and had no place in society. Sheridan Le Fanu does a spectacular job showing how society tries to put a name on things that are unexplainable. Le Fanu was amongst the first to write about these fancies that has been suppressed during the Victorian…
Defining sexuality only in reproductive terms left no place for working class sexuality along with strict regulation of public sexuality such as art, media, and medicine. The success of Comstock’s law reveals how the moral reform that had been present since the early nineteenth century was now being supported by federal and state governments in an attempt to politicize sexuality. Furthermore, the definition of obscenity that was formed stemmed from a middle class discomfort with working class sexuality as the middle class came to value sexual restraint over all other principles. However, just like before, the…
Discourse on sex involved itself with oddities, perversions, and abnormalities. Issues of morality began to emerge, and they were paired with the facade…
From a very young age we are taught the “sexual scripts” (pg. 313) that we are expected to follow and this largely dictates how we feel we should conduct our intimate relationships. Sexual scripts in many societies are largely “heteropatriarcical” meaning they are based on a system of heterosexual male dominance (pg. 354). Tight control over what is sexually acceptable can be harmful for the development of healthy intimate relationships especially for those who do not fall within the traditional heterosexual gender binary. A young American female receives mixed messages about her sexuality every day. In her article The Cult of Virginity author Jessica Valenti says that, “present-day American society- whether through pop culture, religion, or institutions –conflates sexuality and morality constantly” (pg. 336).…
Sexuality In today’s society the biggest discussion we are having lately is all about sexuality. While sexuality can mean many different things one big thing we’ve talked about is same-sex marriage. Ever since same-sex marriage became legal it has been the biggest topic on the news and it has made history. Other topics of sexuality include should it be taught in school, so that students will know the consequences of having sex with their significant other.…