American Taboo

America's often-unspoken morality codes make many topics taboo in "the land of the free." This book analyzes hundreds of popular culture examples to expose how the media both avoids and alludes to how we derive pleasure from our bodies. Flatulence ... male nudity ... abortion ... masturbation: these are just a few of the taboo topics in the United States. What do culturally enforced silences about certain subjects say about our society-and our latent fears? This work provides a broad yet detailed overview of popular culture's most avoided topics to explain why they remain off-limits and examines how they are presented in contemporary media-or, in many cases, delicately explored using euphemism and innuendo. The author offers fascinating, in-depth analysis of the meaning behind these portrayals of a variety of both mundane and provocative taboos, and identifies how new television programs, films, and advertising campaigns intentionally violate longstanding cultural taboos to gain an edge in the marketplace. * Analyzes an enormous range of popular culture examples in a lively and highly readable writing style * Identifies and examines 12 separate taboos of the media * Provides interdisciplinary coverage that intersects with a wide variety of subject areas, including cultural studies, philosophy, feminism, and queer culture * Offers not only in-depth descriptions of cultural taboos but also clear explanations of why they exist * Supplies fascinating and useful information for general audiences as well as students and scholars of popular culture, political science, sexuality and gender studies, and sociology