Books by Carol Siegel

Queer theory arose as a challenge to the stability of sexual categories. But is queer theory in the 1990s in danger of becoming just another category of theoretical inquiry and just another academic discipline? This book demonstrates the extent to which contemporary queer studies involves practices of interdisciplinary reading and analysis.

In this provocative study of cinematic and televisual representations of "e;sex radicalism,"e; Carol Siegel explores how representations of sexually explicit content on film have shaped American cultural visions of sex and sexual politics in the 21st century. Siegel distinguishes between a liberal approach to visual representations, which has over-emphasized normative equal opportunity while undervaluing our distinctive erotic selves, and a radical approach to visual representation, which portrays forbidden sexualities and desires. She illustrates how visual media participates in and even drives political policies related to pedophilia, prostitution, interracial relationships, and war. By examining such popular film and television shows as Mystic River, The Wire, Fifty Shades of Grey, Batman Returns, and the HBO hits, Sex and the City and Girls, Siegel takes the discussion of radical sex in the movies out of the margins of political discussions and puts it in the center, where, she argues, it has belonged all along.

Looks at Goth, a subculture among Western youth. It came to prominence with punk performers such as Marilyn Manson and was made infamous when it was linked to the Columbine High School murders. This book reveals the sources of its darkness, and shows that Goth as a response to the modern world has not disappeared but only escaped underground.