I would hope that these images would make people confront their own feelings about sex, pornography, or erotic images and their own bodies. By now, Sherman is completely absent from her work, replacing herself with mannequins and prosthetic body parts. A good example is Untitled Sherman , in which a mannequin, seen from behind, lies on its front. This doll is fully assembled except for the genital area, which has been left empty, creating a gaping hole that reveals a hollow interior. Sherman demythologises enlightenment conceptions of subjectivity, decentring them by using the artificial figure to expose the reality of human identity in its many contexts.

Krauss, Cindy Sherman , New York, , p. Felix and M. Schwander, eds. In , Cindy Sherman produced a series of photographs entitled Sex Pictures in which she photographed artificial body parts, fake genitalia and dismembered medical dummies in lewd poses. Sherman was responding to attacks on the freedom of expression by the Christian Fundamentalists and extreme right-wing groups in the United States. The American government had recently passed laws prohibiting the National Endowment for the Arts NEA from providing grants for art work considered obscene. The censorship issue is important.

Cindy Sherman's Sex Pictures are just not sexy enough. Well, they are not sexy at all, nor are they meant to be. The artist has said they are not erotic in the least. So why call them Sex Pictures? Just to mislead and frustrate people?

In , Sherman produced a series of sex pictures using artificial body parts purchased from medical supply catalogues and typically employed for educational purposes. In this work, recalling the debased anatomical survey of a pornographic shot, detailed prostheses form a surrogate body. Dichotomies emerge between sterile and sensual, dominance and submission, and pain and pleasure.