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Sex Workers with Hearts of Gold: An Ancient Trope of Sex and Class in Popular Culture

Bowles, Taylor
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1679845710199809

Abstract Details

2023, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, Popular Culture.
Popular culture is rife with stereotypes of sex workers. One of the most common, the sex worker with a heart of gold, has many iterations as a classic literary trope (Rahab from Judeo-Christian literature) and has now evolved into twenty-first-century television and film (Moulin Rouge! and Firefly). These stereotypes are largely affected by class, race, disability, gender, and sexuality, are often subjected to gendered violence and sexualization, and are narratively limited by their relationship with male protagonists. The sex worker with a heart of gold also maintains some similarities regardless of genre. This thesis examines the trope within westerns and romantic films.
Becca Cragin, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Sarah Rainey-Smithback, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Jeffrey Brown, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
86 p.
Film Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Mass Media; Womens Studies
sex work; sex workers; prostitution; heart of gold; feminism; popular culture; Pretty Woman; Moulin Rouge; Firefly; Joss Whedon; representation; Stagecoach; Once Upon a Time in the West; representation; television; film; westerns; romance; popular culture studies; postmodernism; postfeminism; hooker with a heart of gold;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bowles, T. (2023). Sex Workers with Hearts of Gold: An Ancient Trope of Sex and Class in Popular Culture [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1679845710199809

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bowles, Taylor. Sex Workers with Hearts of Gold: An Ancient Trope of Sex and Class in Popular Culture. 2023. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1679845710199809.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bowles, Taylor. "Sex Workers with Hearts of Gold: An Ancient Trope of Sex and Class in Popular Culture." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1679845710199809

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1679845710199809
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© 2023, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.