Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture
Starred Review.Weaving commentary from academia with testimony from such sources as Salt N Pepa and sex worker Annie Sprinkle, Buszek's authorial debut shows how the evolution of the pin-up is inextricably tied to the femenists movement, for better and worse, providing formal and (as she demonstrates) well-deserved appreciation to an art form that's rarely given much respect. The term "pin-up girl," though popularly associated with a particular time period (pre- and post-WWII) and image (buxom and half-naked with a come-hither expression), had its first incarnation in the early days of photography. In using burlesque performers as subjects, pioneering photographers subverted the straightforward portrait form in the 19th century, well aware-along with their subjects-that they had the power to challenge ideas of what it means to be a woman. Drawing on a large body of research and commentary, Buszek smartly focusing on individual contributions and landmarks rather than sweeping claims. An academic, Buschek isn't afraid to dig deep into her subject, but she tempers her treatise with healthy doses of wit, grace and rhythm, and rarely falters. 103 photos.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.