I was inspired to do this project after a class discussion on normative genital surgery on intersex infants. The standards used to identify "normal" and "abnormal" genitals are based on heteronormative sexuality. This project examines the various discourses about the body and how they overlap. For this project, I constructed a flip book that allows the reader to mix and match different images representing the medical, consumer and erotic body.

I owe a great thanks to my friend Stephanie, who bravely agreed to be my model for this project. I took pictures of Stephanie in three different styles, altered them in Photoshop and then made them into a flip book.

I made the flip book, from foam, paper and binder rings. It is not intended to be a children's book, but I made it out of lightweight foam with the intent of evoking that feeling. The images do not match up at the divisions of head, torso and legs, to further emphasize the objectification of the body. The images online do not have the same effect as the flip book but I hope they will give you an idea of my project.

All the photos were taken against a blank wall in Stephanie's house. It took several hours including wardrobe changes. In the medical style, Stephanie wore no make up and plain underwear. In the consumer style, Stephanie got dressed as if she normally does for a night out. In the erotic model, she wore simple but sexy underwear and dramatic make up. Taking photos with a camera hogging dog in the room made for some funny out takes.

For the first of the Medical Model images, I overlayed old anatomical drawings on top of Stephanie's body. The other images in the Medical Model consist of Stephanie's picture merged with paintings of "show off" cadavers by Jacques Gautier d'Agoty. These pictures challenged the limits of my Photoshop skills, but after much trial and error, I was satisfied with the results.

For the first half of the Consumer Model, I followed Stephanie around as she got ready for the pictures and wrote down every product she used. I later found images of each product and their prices, to be incorporated into the final images. In the second half, I placed Stephanie in front of a wilderness scene, and used an artistic filter and made other alterations to create a generic, commodified image of the body and nature.

In the images for the Erotic Model, I airbrushed away Stephanie's skin texture and any visible flaws. I also exaggerated her curves in some photos and added a plastic sheen to her skin.