Nudity - the actor's POV

Point one: in explaining why _you_ wouldn't go naked, you made a blanket generalisation about the perceived male response to stage nudity, which seemed to me to be fairly generic. At this point it seemed the argument had veered from purely personal to general.

> Female nudity usually equals
> female sexuality

To you, Ms Presumptuous... not to me. (Hard as that may be for your oh-too-cynical ennui to grasp!)

> and female sexuality has been
> used to exploit and ojectify
> for so long now that even your
> high and mighty artistic ideals
> must admit that not everyone in
> the audience is as pure in heart,
> mind and intention as you are.

Of course not. But why on earth should we censor ourselves because of a few "dirty raincoats"?!!

Okay, so a few lonely men with gratification issues are going to rock up expecting some artistic pussy, just like some people read Not Only Black & White for a wank. But still others read this photographic-art magazine for its artistic value, and these could very well be the same people who create nude scenes in feminist theatre, in order to reclaim female sexuality from the Flynts and Gucciones of the world.

I'm not saying it's a good thing that patriarchal dominance has rendered women and their bodies tools of sale, I am saying that instead of perpetuating the situation under the guise of bemoaning it, you should be actively trying to restore some kind of balance, like so many feminist playwrights and directors are doing across the world... performing truly left-wing theatre that actually reclaims their sexuality from both the porn moguls and the conservative reactionaries.

One of the more interesting pieces of theatre I saw while living in Melbourne was a music-theatre piece called "Matricide: The Musical", performed by Chamber Made Opera. This piece was basically a lesbian feminist ode to the vagina, and was a truly awful work (IMO).

_But_, it did contain one of the most explicit nude scenes I think I have ever seen in my life. At one point, the soprano Deanne Flatley (an old WAAPA class mate of Gill's) appeared in full frontal nude in a bath-tub, and ran her hands over her body in such a way that when she reached her crotch, her vagina lips actually opened and her genitals were exposed.

It was only a brief moment, but its effect was telling, and, yes, all I could think about in the immediate aftermath was the explicitness of it, and why it was deemed necessary by the performer and the director for it to be so.

But I didn't ask, because the production itself actually answered it for me, and made its point quite concisely, if a little self-indulgently.

Afterwards, I was content to simply say my hellos to Deanne and congratulate her on her performance. I didn't think "I've seen her cunt, slobber slobber". I thought "Wasn't she great, and isn't she so dedicated to her art!"

And before you fly into a rage, yes, I deliberately used the word 'cunt' to try and get a rise (pardon the pun... fnarr! Hi, Dean).

I use it in this context beause that's the context in which it's used by women who actually care about reclaiming images of their bodies and their sexuality.

(If you want to talk about sexually objectifying language and the reclaiming of it among feminist/humanist circles, that's another thread, I'm afraid).

They certainly wouldn't degenerate into spouting the even more insidiously sexist CLEO @!#$ ("rise above it and love them anyway"? Puh-lease!) to which you stoop.

And in answer to your final jibe, I _am_ that evolved, but only because I _choose_ to be.
Rather than wallow in cynicism and complacency, I'm actually trying to live and work with some sense of positivism, which isn't easy when confronted with the kind of antagonism so enthusiastically offered by your good self.

with all due respect,
D.M.