REVISITING THE GAZE the fashioned body and the politics of looking;the fashioned body and the politics of looking

In 1975 Laura Mulvey published her seminal essay on the male gaze, ushering in a new era in understanding the politics and theory of looking at the female body. Since then, feminist thinking has expanded upon and revised Mulvey's theory and much of the Western world has seen a resurgence in feminist activism as well as the rise of neoliberalism and shifts in digital culture and (self-)representation. For the first time, this book addresses what it means to look at the fashioned female body in this radical new landscape. In chapters exploring the fashioned body within contexts such as queerness, veiling, blackness, pregnancy, fatness, and criminality, __Revisiting the Gaze__ addresses intersectional debates in feminism and re-evaluates the concept of the gaze in light of recent social and political changes. With an interdisciplinary approach, bridging fashion and fine art, this book opens the door to discussions about the male gaze and the fashioned body. Contents 6 List of figures 8 Notes on the editors 9 Notes on the contributors 10 Acknowledgements 13 1 Introduction • Morna Laing and Jacki Willson 14 Part I: Looking: The optic and the haptic 46 2 Double acts: Oscillating between optical and haptic visuality in a digital age • Mo Throp and Maria Walsh 48 3 The ambient gaze: Sensory atmosphere and the dressed body • Sara Chong Kwan 68 4 The veiled body: The alienated system of ‘looking’ in post-revolutionary Iran (1979–present) • Azadeh Fatehrad 90 Part II: Looking through neoliberalism 112 5 Becoming in the eyes of others: The relational gaze in boudoir photography • Ilya Parkins 114 6 The dissecting gaze: Fashioned bodies on social networking sites • Dawn Woolley 136 7 Making Lemonade?: Beyoncé’s pregnancies and the postfeminist media gaze • Maureen Lehto Brewster 160 Part III: Looking at the ‘other’ 186 8 Looking fat in a slender world: The dialectic of seeing and becoming in Jen Davis’s Eleven Years • Lauren Downing Peters 188 9 Re-reading the queer female gaze in the 1990s: Spectatorship, fashion and the duality of identification and desire • Catherine Baker 212 10 Killer looks: Marlene McCarty’s Murder Girls • Rosa Nogués 240 Index 266 "In 1975 Laura Mulvey published her seminal essay on the male gaze, ushering in a new era in understanding the politics and theory of looking at the female body. Since then, feminist thinking has expanded upon and revised Mulvey's theory and much of the Western world has seen a resurgence in feminist activism as well as the rise of neoliberalism and shifts in digital culture and (self-)representation. For the first time, this book addresses what it means to look at the fashioned female body in this radical new landscape. In chapters exploring the fashioned body within contexts such as queerness, veiling, blackness, pregnancy, fatness, and criminality, Revisiting the Gaze addresses intersectional debates in feminism and re-evaluates the concept of the gaze in light of recent social and political changes. With an interdisciplinary approach, bridging fashion and fine art, this book opens the door to discussions about the male gaze and the fashioned body." -- Provided by publisher "In 1975 Laura Mulvey published her seminal essay on the male gaze, ushering in a new era in understanding the politics and theory of looking at the female body. Since then, feminist thinking has expanded upon and revised Mulvey's theory and much of the Western world has seen a resurgence in feminist activism as well as the rise of neoliberalism and shifts in digital culture and (self- )representation. For the first time, this book addresses what it means to look at the fashioned female body in this radical new landscape. In chapters exploring the fashioned body within contexts such as queerness, veiling, blackness, pregnancy, fatness, and criminality, Revisiting the Gaze addresses intersectional debates in feminism and re-evaluates the concept of the gaze in light of recent social and political changes. With an interdisciplinary approach, bridging fashion and fine art, this book opens the door to discussions about the male gaze and the fashioned body."-- Provided by publisher