Abstract
This chapter will be considering the political power of the performative within popular culture with specific attention to dangerous bodies that exceed, distort, exploit and self-consciously toy with “straight” and “vanilla” expectations. It is the transgressive dissident elements of “straight” bodies, for instance fetish, S&M, dogging and sex industry work that forms the context of this chapter. I will be focusing on dissident sexual bodies in the mainstream with a close focus on gender roles and sexual “performance” in the popular culture reality TV show “Love Island”. The focus will be on the 2021 Summer series in particular and specific historical episodes from the last six series where heteronormative ideals of female and male sexual “performance” are challenged. The chapter will also explore the role of shame and stigma in controlling and policing expectations of sexual relations and coupledom. In the intersection of capitalism, gender, race and embodiment, “straight” or “alternative” fashion plays a role in the performance of normalcy itself and potentially plays a role in the appropriation or expulsion of the anti-normative.
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Willson, J. (2023). Consuming (beyond Plain) Vanilla: “Straight” Coupledom and Illicit Performativities on Popular Culture TV Show Love Island. In: Mahawatte, R., Willson, J. (eds) Dangerous Bodies. Palgrave Studies in Fashion and the Body. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06208-7_10
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