ABSTRACT
The paradox of disgust hinges on this transparency: it concerns the fact that people seem to have positive emotional experiences of works with disgusting content. But if the transparency thesis is true, then disgusting content should produce an immediate and unpleasant physiological reaction. Structurally, the paradox of disgust is very similar to the Paradox of Tragedy, which asks how and why we like sad narratives, given that sadness is an unpleasant emotion. The disgusting is thus an integral part of our aesthetic appreciation because it is the object of our appreciative interest, and triggers our more pleasing reflections. The disgust, then, acts as a source of social and political insight which audiences can use to valorize non-idealized feminine beauty.
