Reading the gendered body in contemporary culture, 1980-1990

One of the significant developments in feminist studies during the decade of the 1980s has been the emphasis on studying the body, gender, and sexuality as complex cultural constructions. As a contribution to the broader feminist project to rethink the body as a cultural construction rather than a nature "given," this dissertation examines the different ways in which bodies are gendered through interactions with various forms of body technologies: female body building, male stripping, cosmetic surgery, and reproductive engineering. Through a combination of close readings (of science fiction novels, cult films, advertisements, and other texts of everyday life) and original ethnographic investigation, I examine the process through which bodies are inscripted with a gendered identity. At a broader theoretical level, this project contributes to the development of cultural studies as a critical framework for understanding the production and reproduction of power and knowledge.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio