Erotic Film Research Articles

Digital Replicas, Performers’ Livelihoods, and Sex Scenes: Likeness Rights for the 21st Century

I would like to thank June Besek and Columbia Law School for the opportunity to participate on this panel to discuss the appropriate breadth, waivability, and term of the right of publicity. New technologies and the fact that the New York bill will not go retroactive to protect already deceased performers has made this a more pressing issue that needs legal solutions, not just one. What should the right of publicity protect? The right of publicity is a property right that should protect rights to company branding, advertisements, merchandise, products, and professional performance. The right of privacy should protect against very real emotional harm caused by abusing a likeness; non-consensual sex scenes are certainly on my mind right now. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is a labor union, which means our primary mission is to ensure economic justice and fair and safe working conditions for our members. This union has pioneered protections for groups of artists and journalists once thought impossible. We fight for good union contracts, marketplace rights, child protections, general safety, and laws and regulations to prevent or stop unethical industry practices. It should come as no surprise that the union is experiencing attacks on union contracts, organizing, basic consent on the internet, and intellectual properties generally. Unfortunately, as a result, this union has to sometimes question the bounds of the First Amendment in this digital era. SAG-AFTRA represents a broad swath of creators. We represent film actors, program hosts, recording artists, singers, voiceover artists, online influencers, and other media professionals. This union also belongs to an image rights coalition made up of other unions and organizations representing entertainers. I have the honor of representing 160,000 entertainers and journalists who also happen to be public figures. These are public figures who want to protect their families and possess a degree of control over how their likeness is used in the marketplace. No SAG-AFTRA member is the same; we represent 160,000 unique individuals with different business objectives, views, and priorities when it comes to likeness rights. That being said, not one single performer we have spoken to wants their likeness to enter the public domain upon death. The right of publicity and rights to digital replicas have long been a priority for the union. SAG-AFTRA members desire autonomy over their legacy and career. If there is a value to a likeness after death, their family, close friends, or a designated charity should receive the fruits of their labors. It is also worth noting that some of our members want to be excluded from commercial exploitation altogether. For example, news broadcasters are concerned their reputations as journalists would be significantly harmed if ever associated with a company or put on a T-shirt or on a doll. SAG-AFTRA members work hard to achieve any amount of marketplace value in the entertainment industry. Our members often self-subsidize much of their training and arts experience to be the talented individuals you see at concerts, on Broadway stages, and in the movies. Image and voice rights are essential components of a functional modern marketplace that returns value to labor. Value is not simply measured by celebrity gossip magazines or a large online following. Value may be a certain look, a certain voice, or one extraordinary performance or song that sticks with us. There is undeniable value to images and voices and so the question becomes, who should benefit from this value? A family or a corporation? Or, if there is consent, how about both? That seems like a win-win.

Pidana Zina Perspektif Hukum Positif dan Hukum Islam pada Masyarakat Sumatera Barat

Enforcing norms need to criminalization, an exciting one with criminalization is watching a sex scene / cybersex impact on adultery and destroying the moral, social reality, but the rules have not been touched by the law and the Constitution. This study uses a method by 􏰀inding the facts objectively to determine the facts that resulted in the proposition of law with normative law research empirical, which is looking for primary data directly interview to teams maker Criminal Code draft, team members Criminal Code draft and socialization to the local leaders and traditional leaders, police manuscripts / books legislation as well as academics. The conclusion: Padang city government has sought to overcome the impact of pornography negative such as additional study hours for students of religion in the mosque, and pesantren Ramadan. Especially for the closure of access to pornography has been no common ground of understanding let alone the technical implementation and enforcement of the Criminal Code Article 485 and the bill is merely the existence of a misdemeanor (plate), adultery and no single Islamic criminal law in the Marriage Law and KHI.

Self-Resemblance Modulates Processing of Socio-Emotional Pictures in a Context-Sensitive Manner

Abstract. Relevance of emotional information varies with self-involvement. The current study was undertaken to test whether subtle facial self-resemblance is sufficient to affect attentional and affective processing of complex socio-emotional pictures. Faces digitally manipulated to resemble the participants’ (final sample: N = 21) own versus unfamiliar control faces (form and color morphs) were presented in pictures of emotionally evocative social interactions, that is, threat versus sex scenes. At stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) of either 300 ms or 3,000 ms after picture onset, startle responses were elicited by acoustic white noise bursts (50 ms, 105 dB), and recorded at the orbicularis oculi via electromyography (EMG). The majority of participants remained unaware of the morphing manipulation, and awareness did not affect the principal results. As indexed by inhibition of startle at short lead intervals and by picture-evoked heart rate deceleration, facial self-resemblance modulates effects of motivational salience in a context-sensitive way, increasing prepulse inhibition with threat-related, but not erotic cues. Overall, the present study suggests that visual cues of general motivational significance and of self-relevance are integrated in a fast, presumably automatic manner.

When the Stars Lead to You by Ronni Davis

Reviewed by: When the Stars Lead to You by Ronni Davis Alaine Martaus Davis, Ronni When the Stars Lead to You. Little, 2019 [400p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-316-49070-2 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-316-49068-9 $9.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 9-12 Their first romantic round ended in her getting ghosted, but now eighteen-year-old Devon has fallen for Ashton all over again. Their love heats up fast, and Devon has faith that this time she's older and wiser. She soon finds herself navigating Ashton's struggles with depression and his parents' race- & class-based disapproval (Devon is biracial), all while keeping her own future on track. Then a close call with tragedy forces her to decide: is love strong enough to keep them together or can she be strong enough to let him go? Whether it's love, lust, school stress, or family drama, this novel of first loves, first times, and first heartbreaks plays up the emotional intensity. With so much going on, the story is sometimes cluttered and unfocused, but the mess also lends an air of realness to Devon's experiences. Unfortunately, the narrative style is more tell than show, including a few descriptive sex scenes, distancing readers from the emotion and undermining the chemistry between the leads. Meanwhile, characters face the many life-changing moments with an unfailing maturity that belies their years, ultimately giving the novel the vibe of a very special episode about depression. Still, readers who love a good soapy drama-romance may find their hearts a-flutter from the twists and turns of Devon and Ashton's love. Copyright © 2019 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett

Reviewed by: Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Bennett, Jenn Serious Moonlight. Simon Pulse, 2019 [432p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-5344-2514-9 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-5344-2516-3 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12 Eighteen-year-old Birdie would like to forget about her uncharacteristic decision to hook up with some random guy in the backseat of his car last month, but that becomes difficult when said guy turns out to be a coworker at her new job in a downtown Seattle hotel. Daniel’s actually sweet and respectful, but Birdie’s not looking for a relationship; when Daniel invites her to investigate the mysterious comings and goings of a strange guest, however, aspiring sleuth Birdie can’t resist. The mystery initially seems like a mere plot contrivance, but it soon begins to take on emotional weight as Daniel’s interest becomes more urgent; Bennett manages a variety of plot threads—Birdie’s complicated relationships with her grandfather and her (now deceased) mother’s history, Daniel’s depression, Birdie’s narcolepsy—without tipping into soapiness or melodrama. Sheltered by her strict grandparents for most of her life, Birdie is believably insecure and excited as she ventures out on her own, and Daniel’s reticence about revealing his mental health challenges also rings true. Their dialogue has an authentic awkwardness that translates to the sex scenes, including their initial romp in his car, but they shed those anxieties pretty quickly once they get the hang of it. As much as this is a romance, it’s also an affectionate portrait of Seattle, with Birdie reveling in Seattle’s downtown, waxing poetic about the Puget Sound and Mt. Rainier, and, of course, referencing Sleepless in Seattle a few times. Romance fans won’t be disappointed. Copyright © 2019 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Observing Erotic Videos With Heterosexual Content Induces Different Cerebral Responses in Homosexual and Heterosexual Men

ABSTRACT To determine the cerebral functionality associated with the perception and processing of erotic stimuli in men with different sexual orientation, this work evaluated the electroencephalographic activity (EEG) from several cortical areas, as well as subjective arousal in homosexual and heterosexual men during observation of an erotic film with heterosexual content. The heterosexual men rated the erotic video with higher general and sexual arousal than the homosexual participants. During observation of the neutral and erotic videos, both groups showed a decreased amplitude of the alpha band in prefrontal and parietal cortices, indicating increased attention. When watching the erotic video, the homosexual men showed an increased amplitude of the theta and fast bands only in the prefrontal cortex, which could be related to the cognitive processing of the erotic stimulus. These EEG results should broaden our knowledge of the cortical mechanisms related to the different perception and processing of erotic stimuli in men with different sexual orientations.

Is Pelvic Floor sEMG a Measure of Women’s Sexual Response?

IntroductionPelvic floor surface electromyography (sEMG) is often used in the assessment and treatment of individuals with pelvic floor abnormalities to measure muscle tone and neural control of the pelvic floor muscles (PFM); however, little is known about the role of the PFM in sexual arousal. AimThe aim of this pilot study was to examine whether changes in deep and superficial PFM activity—assessed with sEMG—can be observed during the presentation of sexual stimuli. MethodsDeep PFM sEMG activity was assessed with a vaginal probe. Superficial PFM activity was assessed with sEMG electrodes placed over the bulbocavernosus and perianal muscles. 15 sexually healthy women (mean age 27 years) watched a series of neutral, anxiety-evoking, and sexually explicit films. Continuous subjective sexual arousal was measured using a handheld arousometer. Main Outcome MeasureChanges in microvolts were measured by sEMG sensors, from neutral to anxiety-evoking and neutral to sexually explicit films. ResultsThere was an increase in intravaginal and perianal sEMG for both the erotic and anxiety films. Bulbocavernosus sEMG responses did not differ among the 3 films. Concordance between self-reported continuous sexual arousal for the erotic film and bulbocavernosus sEMG (r = 0.349) was not significantly different than concordance using intravaginal sEMG (r = 0.293) or perianal sEMG (r = 0.236). Clinical ImplicationsUnderstanding more about which parts of the PFM respond specifically to sexual stimuli may have implications for measuring the effects of treatments aimed at improving sexual response in women. Strength & LimitationsThe results of this pilot study provide a preliminary understanding of which pelvic floor muscles respond to sexual stimuli. A limitation of this study was the small sample size. ConclusionTaken together, these findings suggest that intravaginal and perianal sEMG respond to erotic stimuli, whereas bulbocavernosal sEMG responses do not.Hannan-Leith MN, Dayan M, Hatfield G, et al. Is Pelvic Floor Surface Electromyography a Measure of Women’s Sexual Response? A Pilot Study. J Sex Med 2019;16:70–82.

Feminine Voyeurism in Ghana Films: Unmasking Frank Raja Arase’s Chauvinist Directorial Techniques

There has been constant resonance of feminine image misrepresentation in most narratives since the (re)invention of video films across African continent. In spite of the binary struggle between the (presumed) chauvinist filmmakers and their feminists counterparts, muscularity always (re)emerge in new trends to dominate femininity. Consequently, there seems a paradigm shift on the (mis)representation of women which (re)enforces Laural Mulvey’s sexual voyeuristic objectification of feminine gender as reflected in near-nude costumes as well as sexual scenes that adorn most Ghana screens. This paper examines Frank Raja Arase’s selected films that are randomly sampled to foreground these voyeuristic imprints.

Passivos, ativos and versáteis: men who have sex with men, sexual positions and vulnerability to HIV infection in the northeast of Brazil

In Brazil, men who practise receptive anal sex (passivos) and both insertive and receptive anal sex (versáteis) are at greater risk of HIV infection than men who practise only insertive anal sex (ativos). In this study, which combined participant observation, 25 biographical interviews and a behavioural survey of 380 self-identified men who had sex with men in the metropolitan region of Recife (Brazil), we investigated how the sex-gender system, through body stylisation (masculine and effeminate) engenders desire and sexual positioning in men’s sexual scenes. The analysis indicated that the sex-gender system tends to reinforce images that portray masculine men as ativos and effeminate men as passivos. However, regarding sexual positioning, sexual versatility is most common (83.3%), which can increase the likelihood of HIV infection and transmission. Stylisations also engender differences in violence related to sexual orientation (e.g. effeminate men were 1.9 times more likely to have experienced violence than masculine men) and desirability (e.g. effeminate men are 6.1 times more likely to be rejected erotically than masculine men). Sexual positioning and stylisation jointly enable community sexual scripts and pathways for HIV to circulate, producing individual and social vulnerability to the epidemic.

Katharina Lindner (2017)Film Bodies: Queer Feminist Encounters with Gender and Sexuality in Cinema

Katharina Lindner (2017)<i>Film Bodies: Queer Feminist Encounters with Gender and Sexuality in Cinema</i>

Cinematic sexualities: The two faces of Abe Sada in Japanese ‘poruno’ film

Abe Sada shocked and even delighted Japan when she was apprehended on 21 May 1936 for the murder and post-mortem severing of her lover’s genitalia. The incident, widely reported for months after the event, engaged people usually not preoccupied with sexual issues, in discussions of sexual desire. Exactly 40 years later, the Abe Sada incident reignited fervor in the media due to the scandal surrounding the Ōshima Nagisa film, Ai no Koriida (Empire of the Senses)(1976), which made newspaper headlines around the world. While some people loved the film, others attacked it on the basis that it contained nothing but sex scenes from beginning to end. It disturbed a lull in international attention to Japanese film.

Free Sex Behavior in Review Of The Influencing Factors in SMA Negeri 1 Wawonii Kab. Konawe Islands

Free sex or sexual conduct premarital teen at the age of 15-24 years in Indonesia tends to rise because it's optimal yet prosperous family education and low levels of education and understanding of the youth against the risk of sex outside of marriage. This research was conducted aiming to review and analyze in-depth information regarding the behavior of free sex. The type of research used a qualitative approach method i.e. phenomenology through in-depth interview, observation and documentation as long as the research progresses.&#x0D; The results of this study indicate that the role of the media and the knowledge is highly influential on the behavior of adolescents in Wowoni Island Islands particularly in SMA Negeri 1 Wawonii, Regency Wowoni Island Islands that This can change the occurrence of changes in teenage lifestyles in this style look, the Association's daily entertainment, and manners. considered to follow the development of the times. This shows the incidence of teenage desire free sex conduct is caused by the presence of sexual stimulation, watch porn videos, pictures, often the same tandem pairs thus leading sexually stimulation, imagine the sex scenes, where imagination that appears is the result of the accumulation of the teen experience for interacting with the surrounding environment. The presence of sexual stimulation which then push the teens to perform sex free.&#x0D; This research is expected of the students do not perform free sex behaviors to avoid disease risk such as sexually transmitted diseases and reproductive health are maintained.

Sexual Arousal and Implicit and Explicit Determinants of Condom Use Intentions

Being sexually aroused may be an important risk factor contributing to sexual decision making. Dual-process cognitive models, such as the reflective–impulsive model of Strack and Deutsch (2004), could be used to explain the effect of sexual arousal on intentions to use a condom. In this study, we investigated whether explicit and implicit attitudes toward condom use can predict intentions to use a condom when participants are sexually aroused and not aroused. In a within-subjects experimental design, male participants (N = 27) watched both a neutral and an erotic movie clip in counterbalanced order. After each clip, participants completed a questionnaire assessing their intentions to use a condom and explicit condom attitudes, followed by a wanting Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald et al., 2003) and a liking IAT to assess their implicit attitudes to unsafe sex. In concordance with the reflective–impulsive model, we found that when participants were not sexually aroused, their intentions to use a condom were solely predicted by their explicit attitudes. However, when they were sexually aroused, intentions to use a condom were predicted by both explicit and implicit attitudes toward condom use.

Sexual response in women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome with a nonsurgical neovagina

Sexual dysfunction is prevalent in women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome after the creation of a neovagina. Insight into the physiologic response of the neovagina during sexual arousal is lacking, although this would help in the understanding of sexual function of these patients. The physiologic sexual response of the vagina can be measured objectively by vaginal photoplethysmography to assess vaginal blood flow. Testing whether the physiologic and subjective sexual response in women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome with a neovagina differs from the response in women with a natal vagina. Vaginal blood flow (vaginal pulse amplitude) and subjective sexual responses during neutral and erotic film viewing were assessed in premenopausal women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome with a nonsurgically created neovagina (n=15) and were compared with responses of an age-matched control group (n=21). All women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome had created their neovagina themselves by dilation. Women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome showed a significantly smaller vaginal pulse amplitude compared with control subjects during neutral film viewing (P=.002). In both groups, vaginal pulse amplitude increased significantly during erotic film viewing, but this increase was significantly smaller in the Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome group (P<.005). Levels of subjective sexual arousal did not significantly differ between the 2 groups (P>.2). Women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome with a nonsurgically created neovagina showed a weaker vaginal blood flow response during visual sexual stimulation and poorer basal blood flow compared with control subjects. The differences in vaginal blood flow may be related to less vascularization and innervation of the neovagina compared with the natal vagina. The weaker vaginal sexual response can play a role in sexual dysfunction; however, despite the weaker vaginal response, women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome did not differ in their level of subjective sexual arousal. Future studies may compare vaginal blood flow and subjective sexual response of women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome with nonsurgically and surgically created vaginas.

Sympathetic collaboration and the made-for-US Philippine films of the 1950s to 1970s

Between the 1950s and 1970s, the Philippines became a prolific producer of low-budget films that were made almost exclusively for American audiences, as an array of subgenres such as war films, jungle horror, blaxploitation and women-in-captivity films found their way to drive-ins and grindhouses. Conscious of the tastes of exploitation film aficionados, these films pandered to their viewers by adopting the familiar conventions of stereotyping villains and heroes, exploiting storylines and genres popularized by mainstream cinema, and featuring the usual gore, hyped-up sex scenes and ‘schlock’ factors found in their American counterparts. They notably also appeared to narrate from the perspective of the white cinematic gaze, often participating in the self-orientalization of Southeast Asian wilderness and tribal life. Considering the highly international nature of Philippine cinema and the historical circumstances that shaped its postcoloniality and reactions to previous imperial encounters, the existence of these export films should not be entirely surprising. Notwithstanding Andrew Leavold’s observation that most Filipino pictures were produced for domestic consumption,1 the Philippine film industry, at least up to the 1980s, was arguably the most internationally oriented within Southeast Asia, with the country serving as the location for big-budget Hollywood productions, and with Filipino filmmakers making films featuring content conscious of international and intercultural contact. The export films2 can therefore be understood as a logical outcome to these industrial developments. By going into partnership with American producers and distributors, Filipino filmmakers seized on competitive advantages, such as lower production costs, the existence of skilled cinematic labour and, more importantly, the ability to shoot on location with sizeable numbers of locally hired extras. In this way these export films boasted higher production values than their American counterparts, especially when there was a requirement for exoticized settings and visual aesthetics.

Le Danger des liaisons: Censoring Laclos’s Liaisons dangereuses

When Pierre-Ambroise-François Choderlos de Laclos’s Liaisons dangereuses first appeared in late March 1782, it was an immediate succès de scandale. Laclos’s focus on his characters’ libertine psychology and his creation of a “monstrous” female villain, Merteuil, distinguished the novel from mainstream eighteenth-century French works. As an analysis of the novel’s reception demonstrates, Laclos’s suggestive portrayal of female sexuality and empowerment—and, specifically, of Merteuil—led first to the text’s association with dangerous works known as “mauvais livres” or “livres philosophiques” such as the Marquis de Sade’s Justine (1791) and the anonymous Histoire de Dom Bougre, Portier de Chartreux (1741), and later contributed to its classification as a pornographic work at the time the concept was invented in the early nineteenth century—and, ultimately, to its censorship in 1823. If the novel was devoid of explicitly sexual scenes, it nonetheless elicited such images in the minds of (at least some of) its readers and thereby caught the attention of the authorities. Les Liaisons dangereuses may be one of the most prominent historical cases of a book being banned not for what was depicted in its pages, but for the fantasies it inspired—providing a compelling twist to the adage that “pornography is in the eyes of the beholder,” or the mind of the reader.

Interoception and Awareness of Physiological Sexual Arousal in Women With Sexual Arousal Concerns

ABSTRACTLaboratory studies assessing physiological genital arousal have largely failed to find differences between women with and without female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD). Therefore, it is possible that women with FSAD may be unaware of their genital arousal response. The present study examined the extent to which women with FSAD can report their genital arousal response, as well as the role of interoception (body awareness) in this relationship. Additionally, this study examined the influence of interoception on the relationship between subjective and genital arousal. Twenty-six women who met criteria for FSAD (M age = 29.5, SD = 8.1 years) watched an erotic film and completed a series of questionnaires. Physiological (i.e., genital) and perceived genital arousal were measured continuously throughout the film. Results indicated women were able to perceive their level of physiological arousal. Greater levels of interoception were linked with stronger relationships between perceived and physiological arousal, but not between subjective and genital arousal. Methodological and clinical implications are discussed.

Are writers still “righting?”: a moral perspective to Adichie’s Americanah

While some scholars in the past believed that art should be a vehicle for moral control, some writers and critics in recent times appear to be saying that literary works should only entertain. This shift is reflected in the publication of literary works with controversial moral contents and a seeming lack of moral critique of them. This study, therefore, makes a case for a moral criticism in African fictional studies through an insightful moral critique of Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah. The critical offerings of scholars such as T.S Eliot and especially Plato were referred to and the tenets of the moral concept namely: restraint, discipline and order were extracted from them, with emphasis placed on restraint. Through a moral critique of the selected text, it is established that the novelist does not apply restraint in describing sex scenes and seems not to have adequately punished sexually immoral characters in the novel. While this could be a trend in the post-modern period, this study holds the opinion that the novel Americanah could be a negative influence on some readers.

Specter of Oppression

Specter of Oppression Gabrielle Bellot (bio) Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado Greywolf Press www.graywolfpress.org/books 248 Pages; Print, $16.00 Near the end of “The Resident,” a long, disquieting, existential horror story in Carmen Maria Machado’s debut collection, Her Body and Other Parties, the narrator begins to speculate as to what other readers think of her extraordinary tale. “[P]erhaps you’re thinking,” she muses, “that I’m a cliché—a weak, trembling thing with a silly root of adolescent trauma, straight out of a gothic novel.” Her allusion to being a character out of a gothic novel—even if she later disputes this self-reading—is apt, and many of the collection’s stories similarly display, if faintly and not without authorial awareness, the tropes of figures in both low and high gothic fiction. Yet her protagonists—almost uniformly women, and as often as not queer women—are tormented less by the spooks of horror texts than by something perhaps scarier still: abuse. Machado’s women are haunted by harassment, be it from men, unstoppable apocalyptic threats from the world at large, or even, simply, from themselves, whereby their own choices or experiences traumatically haunt them. Her women rarely get to rest; they are haunted, hunted. Yet for all this, they also find and fight for moments of love and sexual fulfillment. Machado’s stories achieve this atmosphere of constant, internal and external, existential, and sometimes preternatural harassment by virtue of their invocation of the gothic as a narrative mode, yet her stories avoid the tropes—often sexist—so frequent in the best-known gothic fiction, partly by virtue of her stories’ great corporeality and sensuality. In these stories, harassment becomes haunting, and haunting, harassment. Her Body and Other Parties makes its focus on women’s bodies clear from its title. In a January 2018 interview with Stephanie Cross for The Guardian, Machado argued that women’s “bodies have been oppressed for all of human history.” The idea of women’s bodies as sites of oppression is echoed in the title, as “and other parties” appears to equate women—parties—with their bodies, creating a nod—even before one gets to the first story—to the idea of women’s bodies being objectified. The dispassionate detachment of referring to people as “parties” pointedly reinforces a trope of so much male harassment, whereby women’s personhood flattens and falls away to men objectifying us; we seem simply bodies, parties, things. Yet the other, more positive sense of “party” also holds. For all the gothic traumas women and their bodies undergo in Machado’s stories, they also often experience moments of ecstasy. The body can become a party—a designation bereft of any individuality—but it can also be a festival site, a place where we invite others for frenzied, even orgiastic, interpersonal joy. And this cornucopia of rapturous sex scenes—as opposed to solely featuring sex scenes representing failure or sadness—is intentional, Machado revealed in the Guardian interview. The “secret” to her compelling, credible sex scenes, she said, was “[l]etting some sex scenes be pleasurable, letting bodies be real.” Her women are not solely victims of their pain, not solely maps leading nowhere but to old and new isles of trauma; instead, their body-maps are complicated. Their bodies are allowed, and willingly seek out, pleasure, despite the pains. That “parties” is pluralized, unlike bodies, might additionally imply that Machado’s characters have multiple selves, multiple layers to their identities. To be an individual is, as Whitman famously noted, to also contain multitudes; to be a woman, Machado suggests, is to exist in a space of multiplicity, whereby the body can be many things all at once. In many of the stories, women—and, sometimes, also men—frequently find themselves under quiet siege. And—as with the dangers that we learn, through male harassment and abuse, can never be underestimated—Machado’s women profess the importance of being cognizant of this siege, this threat. “Scoffing is the first mistake a woman can make,” the protagonist of the first story, “The Husband Stitch,” says early on. In that story...

A sex-critical reading of the homosexual sex acts depicted in Inxeba

In this paper, I aim to analyse the homosexual sex acts depicted in the film, Inxeba (Trengove 2017). The analysis is informed by Lisa Downing’s ‘sex-critical’ approach that deems that ‘all forms of sexuality should be equally susceptible to critical thinking about the normative or otherwise ideologies they uphold’ (Downing 2013:95). The findings of the analysis underscore that the film displays a phallocentric scripting of the sex act: thepractices and sequence of sexual acts that privilege the erect, penetrating penis. In cognisance of this point, the sex scenes under discussion can be critiqued for perpetuating a narrow phallocentric ideal of sex that runs parallel to hetero-patriarchal norms. To offer an alternative expression of homosexual sex acts, Alphonso Lingis’s writings on sexuality and sexual desire provide a springboard to explore erotic caresses and couplings thatencompass the entire male body. To this end, Lingis’s work is presented as a means to queer homosexual sex from hetero-patriarchal and phallocentric scriptings. The paper concludes by using Lingis’s theories to imagine an alternative sex scene in Inxeba that illuminates queer eroticism and pleasure outside of penile penetrative sex.