EXAMINING THE MALE RESTROOM AS A SITE OF VISUAL AND MATERIAL CULTURE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BY

ii Building on my prior research of the aestheticization of the male urinal, I will examine the male restroom as a visual and material culture site from both an historical and contemporary perspective with particular attention given to current and emerging trends. The aestheticized restroom suggests a dichotomy between existing structures and society’s attempts to create contemporary spaces that are consonant with emerging post postmodern ideologies and aesthetics. By combining aesthetic theories with an investigation of male restrooms, I investigate the integration of the aestheticization of the male restroom into everyday life, touch on the relationship between aestheticization of male restrooms and the construction of meaning and identity, and consider the possibility of the patron to these aestheticed spaces as an aesthetic subject. The purpose of my research is to begin to broaden our understanding of aesthetic consumption, to shed light on these aestheticized environments and the patrons who use them as aesthetic subjects, and to begin to define a discourse that further articulates these issues. ii