IsayUsaySsay

Name   : Marianna Padi
Time   : 22:30-24:00 Balie Autonomous Zone
Subject: Sex in the Age of Media
Date   : Friday 19 January 1996

Such a pity that sex-industry is not listed on the stock- exchange. We can always only guess the amount of money the lack of sexual freedom generates in our societies.

Sexual revolution over, not to know what we don't know is such a shame. And darkness increases by the second. And our tactics are mainly: Ignore sex and violence! Just like this. The two together. Ignored. Deserted. Or..... we present extreme sexual practices as avantgarde "art". S&M relics are fashion accessories. We fight the sexual attacks of Cotex, Libero, Mars, Coca-Cola etc. by smearing shit and blood on our monitors. How clever. And that is Not considered sex and violence.

Does sexual liberation mean that we fuck our way up the ladder real cool? Get married in a clever way? Yes. What's wrong with it. Passion is over. Love is the exploitation field of the Rock&Roll industry. The market for love: teenage-girls. Fine. Love does or does not exist, we can live with that. But where are the reform sex-shops? Why don't prostitutes have to do an exam on sexual arts? What happenned to the sex-activists? How did the cam-corder effect our sexual culture?

Christian sexual behaviour is definitely inferior to the highly developed sensual art of numerous other cultures, yet, the western type of cheap, fast sex spreads like pest all over the globe. The gesamtkunstwerk recorded on Video-tape is the main information carrier. What do the Japanese watch on their Sonies?

Is the good stuff so private that we can only see the garbage? There are so many brilliant culinaire programmes on TV. What's wrong with sex?

AIDS kind of made it imperative that we simply must use a tool. And making children in vitro might be a better solution than the good old alchemy of male-female sexual encounter. Thus. Don't we have to let go of our own prejudices and rigid moral views and contribute to a second revolution?

Amsterdam's Tolerance Industry prospers. Millions per year come hear to relax. But do we provide quality? XS4ALL but access to what? Do we present How to use drugs? How to make love? How to record what is so dear to us? Is it easier to push a camera into a suffering than to a happy face? Is it not decent to enjoy? Will someone kill us for our happiness with so much suffering around? Are we scared to share our riches? Our knowledge? Or are we scared that our ignorance will be revealed and the rest of the world will laugh?

The most important issue concerning the representation of sexuality in the media is, whether human dignity is being honored or not. Respect has many forms and those forms have many layers, and really there is no one else but ourselves to be the judge of the way we are being treated. Yet when and where basic human rights are not granted, the feeling of being deeply rooted in one's dignity (if not entirely unimaginable) is but a dream. This world is certainly not the best of all worlds and there is always a battle to be fought and battles will have to be fought again and again. Some so mean and savage that they can only be fought by those prepared to go till the end.

Strictly speaking, sexuality belongs to the personal sphere and even within the personal, it belongs to the realm of the night and to the night as a metaphor; and all that happens between those engaged in the sexual act, happens "in secret". Yet, we must speak about sex and sex must speak itself, even though the quality of representation will most probably not be universally "dignified". Knowledge must be brought into the metaphorical daylight, into the open, transformed into accessible information - temporarily and in quotation marks - and these will be the pixels of a hopefully better picture. We can all work best on our own bit.

Details of personal choices, likes and dislikes construct love, and above all, details make physical love interesting, details as diverse as life is diverse. I mentioned human dignity at the beginning of this text and emphasized that we are the judge of what is respectful. Other's affairs are only of concern to us if we are invited to be involved, with the one exception of those that cannot speak for themselves.

Mass media traditionally represent the moral majority, and thus mirror a narrow, discriminating world. Commercial television, as the main source of information, nowadays (at least in Holland) seems to show a world where we can talk about all and gradually show absolutely everything. Not at all discriminating. But it all means absolutely nothing. The pictures, the texts are just there, take it or leave it. The judgmental, sour face of the church's god has been removed, but it has not been replaced by a human face or concern. Showing all, undiscriminately, results in a nihilist cavalcade, recklessly going about destructing the value- system representative of our cultural traditions.

The Internet, public access television, local radios and televisions, community papers are the media, the platforms where we can enjoy the freedom essential to speaking about or experiencing s.e.x. in public. No blame, no shame, important, current issues and above all - FUN.

When we speak to our own people, we can do so without being scared about how we offend or bore an otherwise faceless public with our particular desires, phantasies and practices. Out there, in the world of money and morals we are not able to care about how our show blasphemes, not even, when we do not intend to show disrespect.

In the circle of her friends, the exhibitionist can dance her solo just because she wants to dance and not because she is stigmatized and cornered. In his own surroundings he can be as shy as he likes to be or as his friends like him to be. The inner dynamism of the particular community will automatically shape a response, honoring our efforts.

Undoubtedly, there are many important human rights issues, also on the field of sexuality, that are to be fought still, but perhaps these must be fought by others than the people that just like to be lighthearted and even frivolous about s.e.x..

Everybody has a strong opinion about sex, but only a few will say:"I don't know, I am a catholic" or "I don't know, I am politically correct". The fact that two nice people basically agree on humans being equal etc. does not imply that they also agree whether making a little extra money with sex is exploitation and undignified or super-extra-mega-fun.

Marianna Padi