| Description |
My honors thesis at the University of Utah consists of two parts: a performance, and a paper. Both focus on the idea of the arbitrary definition of sex and sexuality. Sex is defined as: "sexual activity, including specifically sexual intercourse." Sexuality is defined as: "a capacity for sexual feelings" or, "a person's sexual orientation or preference." But what does this actually mean? What is considered sexual activity, or a sexual feeling? How does one know when one is experiencing this, and more importantly, how does one know when a line is being crossed? Everyone has a different opinion of what is right and wrong when it comes to sexual behavior. As a young girl, the world of sexuality was frightening to me; but as I have gotten older, I have learned that sex is not necessarily a bad thing. There is a whole world built around it, and it seems to almost fuel human nature. There are so many different aspects and styles, that it seems, to me, impossible to define sex and sexuality so simply. Through a series of monologues spoken from a variety of viewpoints (male, female, child, victim, virgin, experienced, etc) I hope to shed light on the idea that what constitutes "sex" is subjective and depends upon both experience and nature. The monologues will be drawn from various sources, including The Vagina Monologues, The Penis Monologues, Spring Awakening, Dogface, Venus in Fur, The Little Dog Laughed, and, Cloud Nine. Transitions between the monologues will consist of definitions of terms, and statistics about sex. In addition, I will conduct a close reading of each monologue, comparing their perspectives on sex and sexuality to determine patterns in points of view and, more importantly, the points at which a shared understanding of these concepts break down The aim here is to deconstruct the idea - through performance and analysis - that there are singular definitions of sex and sexuality. The piece was performed in Studio 115 on May 7th , 2013. It was filmed for submission and archival purposes. |
