D.I.Y.

Thank you again rsrchr for your input and letting me know about the Back Off event tomorrow! It is actually quite in line with my research topic. I have to do a mini lecture tomorrow about my research project (oh no!!) but I'll definetly try to attend before and/or after! First, it seems like it's dealing with écriture féminine or "writing the female body" with the workshop "Let’s Talk about Genre(s)", which is self-explanatory by "Come to discuss, practice - and even create! - linguistic strategies to thwart the ‘universal’ grammatical masculine that anchor our presence in language, and the world." As previously mentionned, I am using the concept of "écriture féminine" in my analysis of neo-burlesque.

Second, the workshop "Pénélope or the Epic of Heroines, Amazons and Other Dancers" is said to be the " art of re-appropriation of your body", which could easily be linked to the neo-burlesque performances.

And last but none the least, the "D.I.Y. Porn: How to make fun and ethical smut!"... Well... I mentionned that - when responding to Button's question about the locus of my research - pornography could be used "to dislodge ... culture-specific mediation of the female body" (Dallery, 1989 ; Joy & Venkatesh, 1994) according to post-structuralists feminist writers. I looked into the Lickety Split smut zine (which, quite honnestly - and shamefully - I have never heard of despite of their geographical proximity and link with my research interests). Their emphasis on the "Do it yourself" rather than the "alternate look" makes it quite interesting also. I believe there is more freedom for subversion (ok, than again, what is subversive?) when it is self-determined rather than when circumscribed by a certain realm of aesthetic or pre-determined style (just like in neo-burlesque). I further investigated on the Lickety Split smut zine and found out about the Feminist Porn Awards, as well as their selection criterias:

1) A woman has had a hand in the production, writing, direction, etc. Of the work.

2) It depicts genuine female pleasure.

3) It expands the boundaries of sexual representation on film and challenges stereotypes that are often found in mainstream porn.

I should investigate further their criterias for determining what they consider as challenging of the stereotypes in mainstream porn...

I found it interesting that the award ceremony, held in Toronto, would feature Coco La Creme, a burlesque artiste from the the troupe Skin Tight Outta Sight, that I have previously mentionned seeing at the Toronto Burlesque Festival (they organized it). (Wow - this is starting to look a bit too "Da Vinci's Codish"!!) I find Skin Tight's work of "rebel burlesque" particularly creative and refreshing in so far...



Anyhow, this brings me to the reflexion that I should investigate further the D.I.Y. aspect in neo-burlesque, which is an important part of that culture (sexual representation, but also costumes, scenography, props...) Is this auto-determination "empowering" and challenging the norm?