Porno Chic 2.0 | 2014 | Bachelorarbeit
With my graduation collection I aim to explore the taboo around pornography in a society in which sexual moral is incredibly open minded. Young people in Berlin for example are known for their acceptance of people who express their sexuality regardless of sexual orientation or preferences. I also wanted to explore the impact and changes of sexual culture on women, especially through the media and Internet.
The Golden Age of Porn is a brief time in history, where erotic films with explicit pornography gained interest amongst the upper middle class, and is referred to by Ralph Blumenthal of the New York Times, as »Porno Chic«. It was a period of interaction between pornography and the contemporaneous second wave of feminism, where on the one side feminist were reacting against porn, characterising it as a central factor of discrimination against women and on the other side, pro-porn feminist accepted it as a part of the sexual revolution, which challenged the traditional views on human sexuality, especially for women.
For a brief period of a few years, watershed films like Deep Throat (1972) and The Devil in Ms Jones (1973) containing explicit pornographic scenes were shown in mainstream cinemas in the USA in early 70s. It even became trendy to have discussions about these films after the screening by cinema audiences consisting of politicians, celebrities and middle class people alike. By playing with clichés surrounding feminine beauty, I wanted to create a collection which explores the freedoms we have gained in expressing our sexual identities as women today but also the taboos surrounding this subject. In my collection feminine clichés like the bra, flowers and breast interpreted in new ways: by creating new shapes with the brassiere, by cutting up, collaging, playing with new positions, asymmetry, provocative graphics and censorship, I want to express a sense of protest against the state of hegemonic mainstream culture. The collection celebrates the freedoms that women have gained through changing dress codes, but also takes a critical look at the struggles and expectations of these new freedoms of sexual expression in modern society.
BETREUER
PROF Valeska Schmidt-Thomson | PROF DR Ingeborg Harms | Christina Klessmann | KM Lars Paschke
