American Taboo: The Forbidden Words, Unspoken Rules, and Secret Morality of Popular Culture

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

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 societyand 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 mediaor, 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.

Author Bio

Lauren Rosewarne, PhD, is senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Australia.