Post-Butt: The Power of Image / Melani de Luca

OH MY GOD, LOOK AT HER BUTT! Melani de Luca's analysis of the virality of images in our mediated society with a case study around the image of female butts, booties, and behinds, and their influence in media, society, and art. The butt is a protagonist of mass-mediated culture, a democratic sex organ par excellence. The phenomenon of bootyfication exists in many contexts, as varied as the exploitation of the body in colonialism, to the booty-positivity of 90s hip hop culture. The propagation of the butt as the focal point of the female body is a political statement. It is a sign of the integration of different cultures, and their beauty ideals, into Western society—shifting cultural meanings incorporate African, Caribbean, and even Queer aesthetics. Post-Butt explores different time periods and regions to analyse the political meaning of the usage of the image of female buttocks. It discusses the role of the booty in varied cultural expressions such as film, Internet art, music videos,