Through the looking glass? Sexual agency and subjectification in cyberspace

[Editors' description of the chapter:] Feona Attwood’s chapter ‘Through the Looking Glass?’ focuses on alternative pornography in the contemporary Western context where the rapid development of media and communication technologies offers women unprecedented access to various forms of cultural production. She shows that these cultural and technological shifts also open up a space for the presentation of new feminine sexualities that are not simply responses to male desires or forms of self-policing. Arguing that agency is always a form of ‘making do’, Attwood shows that there are new ways of doing femininity and making culture in the context of women’s online sexual selfrepresentation. Attwood’s discussion of alternative pornographies highlights women’s active agency in making different forms of erotica and argues that ‘camgirls’ can be understood as defying objectification and controlling the gaze.
[Publisher's description of the book containing this chapter:] This volume brings together twenty original essays on the changes and continuities in gender relations and intersecting politics of sexuality, race, class and location. The book is situated in debates about contemporary culture at a moment of rapid technological change, global interconnectedness and the growing cultural dominance of neoliberalism and postfeminism. The collection traverses disciplines, spaces and approaches. It is marked by an extraordinarily wide focus, ranging from analyses of celebrity magazines and makeover shows to examinations of the experiences of young female migrants, 'mail order brides' and young women who repudiate feminism. The contributions are united by their attempts to think through the ways in which experiences and representations of femininity are changing in the twenty-first century. Are we seeing new femininities? Are neoliberalism and postfeminism constructing new identities and subjectivities? What kinds of analytic tools and cultural politics are needed to engage critically with the current moment? This book will be of interest to everyone studying gender, media or cultural studies.