There is a dominant conception of sex in American society that has profound effects on our sexual lives. Often this can be a negative influence because our societys conception is distorted. My thesis considers how this skewed view on sex and sexuality results in the presence of shame and guilt in our sexual lives. I first define societys conception of sex and present it visually through fashion advertising. Each of the pornographic elements (objectification, submission, hierarchy and violence) utilized in advertising are explained. The advertisements are meant to provide a visual portrayal of societys conception of sex, which is relevant to the concept of the gaze; an important aspect of shame. Second, I provide a philosophical account of shame and guilt. I illustrate how our societys conception of sex can instigate these emotions into our sexual lives even though they are often unfounded. Finally, I attempt to resolve the invalid shame and baseless guilt we experience in our sexual lives through the notion of sexual self-respect, which is a variant of the philosophical concept of self-respect. As individuals we have some influence in diminishing the invalid shame and baseless guilt we experience in our sexual lives. However, society has a responsibility to formulate a conception of sex that is more conducive to our actual lived sexual experiences. Therefore, the solution resides in the give and take relationships between the individual and society, between self-respect and respect and between society and the media. I present these changes in societys conception of sex as the possibility of seeing advertising that utilizes erotic elements rather than pornographic elements, and the use of models that more accurately portray us as sexual beings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-05062008-144818 |
| Date | 13 May 2008 |
| Creators | Magsig, Hailey M. |
| Contributors | Dr. Casey Charles, Dr. Sean O'Brien, Dr. Christopher Preston, Dr. Stephen Grimm |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-05062008-144818/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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