Sexism at Rocky

[jrising]

Elaina is quitting the show for a variety of reasons, but the relevant one is sexism at Rocky. She convinced me that the problem is extensive, but I don't know how to respect those concerns and still encourage the individual creative talents and sexualities of our members and the boundary-pushing of the show. But I think we can find a way, and enjoy our work better for reaching for it.

Sexism has become a party-crashing term. People worry that if they acknowledge it, it will make every decision more difficult and force us to be more conservative. It shouldn't. Sexism itself-- the faulty societally-ingrained role preconceptions we have-- is inherently incredibly conservative and creativity-blocking. By harboring it, we cripple the sexual and individual potential of our members.

I think that the best solution to the sexism problem has to do with promoting an attitude at the show, not by making rules, and I think we can do it, because we're strong, freely-sexual people who want to promote sexual equality. This attitude would be characterized by honest recognition of how our actions and shows play out sexual stereotypes, and the constant search for what's beyond them.

One aspect of this attitude might be that men at Rocky would be encouraged (expected) to put themselves on sexual display as much as women. It will make us better men. Another is that we should consider the sexism-jostling potential of our preshows. We can get more out of challenging our audience than playing to its fantasies.

Next week: How to get the most out of a rape fantasy...

Comments

[revolos55.livejournal.com]

Well this is the first I've heard of this problem. That's why we have the yellow rule. You don't have to get naked if you don't want to. But maybe what I think of as a genuine appreciation for the female form, or a specific female form, someone else considers harassment. I was always under the impression that any "ogling" or comments of a sexual nature I made were taken as compliments, and done in good humor. I would hope that people would tell me otherwise.

As for some sort of equal-opportunity male objectification, I'm fairly sure that shirtless o'clock is gender neutral, and while full frontal male nudity has experienced a radical drop in frequency since Acid left, I have seen more penises since joining the show than I had in the entirety of my 22 years of life before that point.

I honestly had no idea that this was an issue at the show. I thought it was fairly well understood that Rocky is an explicitly sexual atmosphere, and that people were free to express themselves in that manner. And this is directed at no one in particular, but you really can't come to the Rocky Horror Picture Show dressed in a shelf-making corset and underwear if you're going to me offended by someone commenting on your boobs. I'm not saying it's permissible for someone to lay hands on, or be outright harassing, and I'm not saying that "she's asking for it", but it's just plain common sense. If you don't want to hear sexual comments, don't come to Rocky.

I don't know if this makes me sound like a lecher or a misogynist, or whatever, but I knew what Rocky was when I joined, and if I've had a problem with something I've spoken up. I'm glad that Elaina has too, and I'm sorry that she's been having problems. If I'd known I needed to change my behavior towards her I would have, and like I said, I'd hope that if anyone else had a problem with something I did or said, they'd tell me. But as far as I knew I hadn't stepped on anyone's toes or offended their sensibilities.

[jrising.livejournal.com]

I don't think the problem is with the reactions that women in shelf-making corsets get; when a woman wants to say "look at me", we shouldn't be ashamed to ogle. But if women are almost always the ones being looked at and men are just doing the looking, we aren't doing honest sexuality.

Strong women, like you, have no problem drawing their boundaries, and I think we're fairly good at respecting those. But men at Rocky never have that problem: we aren't asked to be outwardly sexual the way women are. I hope that women at Rocky never feel used sexually, but I'm sure some do, and I'm pretty sure men never do.

Finally, I think we present sex in a much more sexist way to our audience than we have within the cast. Rocky is about the love, and we have some obligation to our audience to not leave them with huge misconceptions about hot the love works.