‘Keep it to yourself’: Shame and female masturbation in American independent cinema

This article considers four films released in American independent cinema since 2000 that contain examples of female masturbation as linked with shame within the character constructs: Mulholland Dr. (2001; dir. Lynch), Secretary (2002; dir. Shainberg), Margot at the Wedding (2007; dir. Baumbach), and Black Swan (2010; dir. Aronofsky). Utilising formalist analysis of the relevant masturbation sequences in the films, along with psychoanalytic theory in relation to both masturbation and the concept of shame, this article aims to demonstrate how these films frame masturbation as negative and transgressive, and link autoerotic behaviour to the concept of shame within the development of the characters.