Friday, April 22, 2016

Performance #3: "Pretty Women"

Score Performance #3:
The audience is placed in a circle
-two lights on either side of the circle
I am carried in by two male bodies and set in the circle
Repeat the “we need feminism speech” while cutting off the


One side of the room have pretty women playing
Other side have the repeated speech of we need feminism


I in the middle wrapped in plastic wrap try to undo myself completely


Bold= what the women say
Italicized= male’s say
We still need feminism because when people get married it is assumed the woman will take the man’s last name.
Because when women are assaulted, they are often the ones who feel ashamed.
We still need feminism because we teach women how to prevent rape, instead of teaching people to not view women as objects.
Because women are told that walking alone at night makes them “an easy target.”
Because, sometimes, a movie’s rating (PG-13 versus R) depends on how much a female appears to be enjoying sex in a certain scene.
We still need feminism because our bodies are still being legislated,
because McDonald’s still asks us if we want a girl or boy toy,
because we use terms like “bitch” and pussy” to imply weakness.
We need feminism because FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), the act of cutting off and restitching female genitals to prevent pleasurable sex — and can happen to girls as young as 5 months old — is still practiced in 29 countries.
Because more than 120 countries don’t have laws against marital rape, and still allow child brides — some as young as 6 years old.
We need feminism because infanticides, the act of killing children within a year of birth, can be attributed to millions of fewer females than males in Middle Eastern countries,
and because in Afghanistan women going to college can be considered justifiable grounds for disfiguring.
Being a feminist does not mean you think women can’t speak for themselves, it means you realize that, even though some may be lucky enough to, there’s still many who can’t.
“Don’t be slutty, don’t have sex. But be sexy. If you’re too sexy though and you get raped then that’s your own fault because you’re not actually supposed to listen to us about being sexy, even though we tell you your value is derived from how sexy you are. If you get into a position of power, we will assume that you used your sex appeal to get there and not your brains and we will mock you even though we told you the only thing that mattered was your sex appeal. Make yourself accessible to us, but holy shit stop being so desperate and needy. Don’t be a tease. If we want to have sex with you, Don’t friend zone us, even though we just fucking told you not to have sex.”
This performance I thought long and hard about. I really wanted to do the plastic wrap because I thought that it refereed to the trapped feeling with in society with not only protecting the virginity of my body but preserving it's innocence, which is that main goal of being a female right? I wanted to completely burst out of this entrapped feeling that I get when I read men's ideas on women and the patriarchal society that I am apart of. The visual aspect you see me struggling, naked full face of makeup. The nudity is to reflect on the preservation of the body, like what sandy said "Kind of like a barbie getting ready to be bought off the shelves." That what I feel a lot of times, especially with growing up in a society when women must and can only look a certain way. It was created a lot of ideas that as growing up I made sure I fit or else I wouldn't be liked. I was a sexual object, something pretty to look at, something to use, something that was fun for a second and later would be dumped to the side and used by many more, just alike the barbie. It wasn't until I came to college that I realized there is a lot more to me and my female identity than what society has created. I used the words because it reminds us exactly why we still need feminism, why this break through challenges us but it very much needed to understand and grow the identity we've been forced to subdue. However I did get the sense that the words didn't make as powerful as I would have hoped, however if I just have two people reading it I feel like I could get the same type of overwhelming emotion. I had the song "Pretty Women" playing along because it created a fun and joyful atmosphere, however underneath the skin it's very demeaning and cat calling. It mimics most of what we deal with now and days the jokes that go along with being a women. I am tired of being an object. I am tired of being pretty for other people. I am tired of being shamed for loving myself. I am tired of being called selfish because I care about my person. I am a human being. And I am a women, and I'm so proud to be able to break free and leave the sheds of social ideals.

1 comment:

  1. Really good self-reflection Madison! Great video documentation. I loved seeing it happen again -- only differently. Also the video's vantage point was interesting as when you watch it -- you are looking down at you squirming frantically, trying to break loose.

    What you write at the end of this self-reflection is stronger than the words
    I heard during the performance. I am tired of being an object. I am tired of being pretty for other people. I am tired of being shamed for loving myself. I am tired of being called selfish because I care about my person. I am a human being. And I am a women...

    think about this....

    ReplyDelete