Perversions: Deviant Readings by Mandy Merck

In this series of provocative essays on culture, art, and film, critic Mandy Merck explores the paradoxes of sexual representation. Her chapters are readingsof"perversions"--male and female homosexuality. At the same time, Merck's ideasareperversions--readings that pervert, or turn away, from our usual understandings. Amon the unlikely subjects of Merck's critical eye are lesbian S/M, Simone de Beauvoir's litle-known study of Brigitte Bardot, the gay videoporn hitMore of a Man, and the television production ofPortrait of a Marriage. Her criticism is refreshingly original, resulting in ways of seeing that toe no party lines. Drawing their power from a resistance to easy conclusions, Mandy Merck's deviant and refreshing readings are always perverse.