Perversions: Deviant Readings

In this series of provocative essays on culture, art, and film, critic Mandy Merck explores the paradoxes of sexual representation. Her chapters are readings of "perversions"--male and female homosexuality. At the same time, Merck's ideas are perversions--readings that pervert, or turn away, from our usual understandings.Amon the unlikely subjects of Merck's critical eye are lesbian S/M, Simone de Beauvoir's litle-known study of Brigitte Bardot, the gay videoporn hit More of a Man, and the television production of Portrait of a Marriage. Her criticism is refreshingly original, resulting in ways of seeing that toe no party lines. Drawing their power from a resistance to easy conclusions, Mandy Merck's deviant and refreshing readings are always perverse.