Visions for Justice and Critiquing Consent On Taking Performativity Out of Performance

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here's an excerpt: 

"We live in a society built on a foundation of oppressive systems and upheld by the vilification of boundaries. Consent is our answer to that. It’s the reclamation of power for the powerless and the notion of its failure, in any context, is activating and at times, can even be re-traumatizing. In entertainment, Intimacy specializations in live performance, film and television were born to prevent re-traumatization and facilitate the end of the collective experience of dehumanization in our industry. [...] However, there are often moments in creative processes where the more ‘black and white’ definitions of consent as freely communicated, retractable and informed fail to acknowledge moments where past trauma, power dynamics, and a lifetime of systemically ingrained silence create ambiguity. [...] the purpose of this essay is to highlight the expansive and revolutionary opportunities that exist when we move away from treating any word, framework or methodology as absolute truth. It’s an invitation to re-examine the best of solutions, to identify the gaps, and to find new methods of filling them. In order to do that, we need to identify the language of the industry, align our definitions, and dissect them."