- Title
- Anti-fetishism: parodying the depiction of the female body as fetish
- Creator
- Pirie, René Alexis
- Subject
- Body image -- Social aspects Fashion -- Social aspects
- Date Issued
- 2017
- Date
- 2017
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MTech
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20377
- Identifier
- vital:29272
- Description
- sexual objectification of women is widespread in contemporary lifestyle and fashion magazines. Models used for advertising purposes often set a standard of beauty and youth that is unrealistic and limiting. This standard has damaging effects on women’s sense of self and their societal behaviour. Such images not only sexualise as well as fetishise women’s bodies, but also encourage self-surveillance. This research study examines Cindy Sherman, Sarah Lucas, Louise Bourgeois and Ángela Burón’s artistic responses to fetishized images of women, in order to assess what artistic strategies could be used to oppose such images in magazine advertisements. It aims to identify what anti-fetishism involves in theory and practice and to use this information to formulate an anti-fetish strategy which informs a series of anti-fetish artworks. The purpose of this series of works is to oppose the fetishization of women, particularly in magazine advertisements of high-end consumer products. The study contributes to the discourse of anti-fetishism and addresses a knowledge gap since research on anti-fetishism has much room for development. It is a Qualitative research study which adhered to a Practice-based research method. The key findings of this study are that anti-fetishism and female fetishism are approaches that differ from one another yet also overlap. Furthermore, Anti-fetishism involves the use of parodic mockery, while female fetishism is concerned mostly with undecidability as a strategy. From the examination of the artists, the anti-fetishistic strategy of parody, largely influenced the practical component of this research study. Parody offers a clear opposition to the still widespread fetishization of women in magazines both in South Africa and other Westernized countries across the world.
- Format
- xviii, 161 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Art
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Microsoft Word - DISSERTATION FINAL FINAL.docx | 9 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |