Erotic Ambiguities explores how feminist artists have responded to traditional depictions of the "ideal female body" which proliferate throughout contemporary visual culture. Across photography, fashion, painting and performance art, McDonald shows how feminist artists have employed the idea of ambiguity to counter negative images of women and to dismantle the elusive classical ideal enshrined in "the nude."

Examining the work of key artists from Barbara Kruger, Judy Chicago, and Mary Duffy, to Zoe Leonard, Tracey Moffat, Pat Barrington and Sally Smart, McDonald traces the shift in feminist art practices from the early deconstruction of patriarchal representations to the more ambivalent contemporary practices.