Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Vagina

  • A Literary and Cultural History
  • By: Emma L. E. Rees
  • Narrated by: Polly Lee
  • Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (3 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Vagina cover art

The Vagina

By: Emma L. E. Rees
Narrated by: Polly Lee
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Naked Feminism cover art
Feeling Jewish (A Book for Just About Anyone) cover art
Scots, Sassenachs, and Spankings: Feminism and Gender Roles in Outlander cover art
Where the Stress Falls cover art
Feminism and Pop Culture cover art
Expletives Deleted cover art
Buffoon Men: Classic Hollywood Comedians and Queered Masculinity cover art
Nothing Sacred cover art
Jonathan Franzen cover art
The First Love Story cover art
Red cover art
The Art of Cruelty cover art
The Queer Art of Failure cover art
Jewish Comedy cover art
Shaking a Leg cover art
The Beauty Myth cover art

Summary

From South Park to Kathy Acker, and from Lars Von Trier to Sex and the City, women's sexual organs are demonized. Rees traces the fascinating evolution of this demonization, considering how calling the "c-word" obscene both legitimates and perpetuates the fractured identities of women globally. Rees demonstrates how writers, artists, and filmmakers contend with the dilemma of the vagina's puzzlingly "covert visibility". In our postmodern, porn-obsessed culture, vaginas appear to be everywhere, literally or symbolically but, crucially, they are as silenced as they are objectified. The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History examines the paradox of female genitalia through five fields of artistic expression: literature, film, TV, visual, and performance art. There is a peculiar paradox - unlike any other - regarding female genitalia. Rees focuses on this paradox of what is termed the "covert visibility" of the vagina and on its monstrous manifestations. That is, what happens when the female body refuses to be pathologized, eroticized, or rendered subordinate to the will or intention of another? Common, and often offensive, slang terms for the vagina can be seen as an attempt to divert attention away from the reality of women's lived sexual experiences such that we don't "look" at the vagina itself - slang offers a convenient distraction to something so taboo. The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History is an important contribution to the ongoing debate in understanding the feminine identity.

©2013 Emma L. E. Rees (P)2014 Audible Inc.

What listeners say about The Vagina

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent source for academic essays

I first started this book when I was writting an essay about the depiction of the vagina in art and cinema. It proved to be an excellent academic source as it is well written and documented. Occasionally abundant in details, it asks for the reader's commitment and patience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!