A case for cliteracy | Sophia Wallace | TEDxSalford
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0:14 - 0:17Hello, Manchester.
I'm so happy to be here. -
0:18 - 0:20(Responses) (Cheers)
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0:21 - 0:23My name is Sophia Wallace.
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0:23 - 0:24I'm an artist.
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0:24 - 0:27And I'm here today
to share with you a project -
0:27 - 0:29that I hope will empower you personally,
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0:29 - 0:32and by extension those that you love,
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0:32 - 0:35especially if they have a clitoris.
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0:35 - 0:36(Cheers)
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0:39 - 0:40(Laughter)
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0:42 - 0:43To make this work,
-
0:43 - 0:46I have to talk about
independent female desire. -
0:46 - 0:49I have to speak about a universal taboo -
-
0:49 - 0:51female genitals.
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0:51 - 0:52This is not easy.
-
0:54 - 0:56It taints the speaker.
-
0:56 - 0:59I want to thank TEDxSalford
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0:59 - 1:02for having me here
and hosting this conversation. -
1:07 - 1:10All bodies are entitled
to experience the pleasure -
1:10 - 1:12that they are capable of.
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1:12 - 1:15This is a core pillar of cliteracy.
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1:16 - 1:18In making this work,
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1:18 - 1:20I had to say that the clitoris,
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1:21 - 1:24first, as an organ, has a right to being,
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1:24 - 1:28and that this right
is not just about not being cut off. -
1:28 - 1:30Sadly, to this day,
-
1:30 - 1:32over a 140 million women
-
1:32 - 1:35have had their external
clitorises cut off. -
1:35 - 1:38This doesn't make it
into the news very often, -
1:38 - 1:40and this doesn't come up
in foreign policy discussion. -
1:41 - 1:42So number one,
-
1:42 - 1:46the clitoris has a right to exist,
free of harm, like any other organ. -
1:46 - 1:50But secondly, I argue with cliteracy
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1:50 - 1:52that the clitoris has a right to pleasure,
-
1:52 - 1:55and this is part
of its primary right of being. -
1:57 - 2:00How is it possible
that we landed on the Moon -
2:00 - 2:03and walked around 29 years
-
2:03 - 2:06before we discovered
the anatomy of the clitoris? -
2:08 - 2:11(Laughter)
-
2:11 - 2:16We actually cloned sheep,
identified the Higgs boson particle, -
2:16 - 2:19and only discovered
the clitoris 29 years ago. -
2:19 - 2:23Unfortunately, this discovery
has not been adopted, -
2:23 - 2:26so most people don't know
the actual anatomy of the clitoris. -
2:28 - 2:32The clitoris is not a button.
It is an iceberg. -
2:34 - 2:37Like many in the room
who are hearing this for the first time, -
2:37 - 2:38I was shocked to find out
-
2:38 - 2:42that I didn't know the actual anatomy
of half of the population, -
2:42 - 2:44that I didn't know my own anatomy.
-
2:45 - 2:48In fact, the clitoris is not a button,
it is like an iceberg. -
2:48 - 2:50Most of the organ is internal.
-
2:53 - 2:55This slide is an anatomical example
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2:55 - 2:58of the penis and the clitoris
side by side. -
2:58 - 3:00Now, we've all been taught
-
3:00 - 3:04that male bodies
and female bodies are opposites: -
3:04 - 3:08the male body sort of sticks out,
the female body is solely internal. -
3:08 - 3:09Well, in fact,
-
3:09 - 3:13there're so many similarities
between the penis and the clitoris. -
3:13 - 3:14So, if you'll see,
-
3:15 - 3:17both the glans and -
-
3:17 - 3:19The glans of the penis
and the glans of the clitoris - -
3:19 - 3:21both organs have a glans.
-
3:21 - 3:24There are 3000 nerves
in the glans of the penis. -
3:24 - 3:27There are 8000 nerves
in the glans of the clitoris. -
3:27 - 3:30Both organs have a corpus cavernosum.
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3:30 - 3:34Both organs have crura,
like two little legs or wings. -
3:34 - 3:36Both organs have bulbs of erectile tissue.
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3:36 - 3:38Both organs get erect.
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3:39 - 3:41The penis is outside of the body mostly,
-
3:41 - 3:43and the clitoris
is inside the body mostly. -
3:43 - 3:45That's the biggest difference.
-
3:45 - 3:46In fact, they're very similar.
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3:46 - 3:49Actually, fetuses have the same tissue,
-
3:49 - 3:53and in boys it develops as a penis,
in girls it develops as a clitoris. -
3:54 - 3:57Some people have small penises,
some people have very large clitorises. -
3:57 - 4:00If one has a clitoris
and takes testosterone, -
4:00 - 4:02their clitoris can expand.
-
4:02 - 4:05What I'm saying is that
these organs are actually quite similar. -
4:05 - 4:08And, while we are different,
while we are unique as men and women, -
4:08 - 4:12our differences
are not a sign of opposition. -
4:12 - 4:16In fact, we're related to each other,
we're connected. -
4:16 - 4:18And that's an exciting fact.
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4:21 - 4:24With Cliteracy, I started with language.
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4:24 - 4:25Language has been a place
-
4:25 - 4:28that so much of sort of
the division of men and women -
4:28 - 4:32and the subjugation of women has been
entrenched with the language itself. -
4:33 - 4:37'Vagina' - the single most misused word
in the English language. -
4:37 - 4:39This is one of the laws of Cliteracy.
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4:39 - 4:40It's intentionally hyperbolic.
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4:40 - 4:43But unfortunately, it's more true
than I wish it was. -
4:43 - 4:47'Vagina' is a Latin word.
It means 'sword holder'. -
4:48 - 4:51(Laughter)
-
4:54 - 4:58Vagina, medically, technically,
only includes the opening. -
4:59 - 5:02This term is used almost universally
in doctor's offices. -
5:02 - 5:06It's also used in feminism
to sort of advocate. -
5:06 - 5:09But it's a term that ignores the clitoris,
-
5:09 - 5:11which is the female sexual organ.
-
5:11 - 5:16And secondly, it reduces the female body
to being a receptacle, a sword holder. -
5:17 - 5:20If you want to use a term
that addresses all the female genitals, -
5:20 - 5:22both the reproductive
and the sexual parts of it, -
5:22 - 5:24the word is 'vulva'.
-
5:24 - 5:26This is a word that almost no one uses,
-
5:26 - 5:30but this is the word if you want to
talk about female genitals - vulva. -
5:30 - 5:35If you want to talk about pleasure,
'clitoris' is the term. -
5:35 - 5:37The clitoris is both
internal and external. -
5:37 - 5:40So, when the clitoris is engaged,
-
5:40 - 5:41internal stimulation feels great.
-
5:41 - 5:44If the clitoris is not engaged,
it can feel not great, -
5:44 - 5:45or it can feel painful.
-
5:45 - 5:48It's all about what's happening
with the clitoris. -
5:48 - 5:49If it was about the vagina,
-
5:49 - 5:53there would be so many nerves
that childbirth would be impossible. -
5:53 - 5:54There're very few nerves in the vagina.
-
5:54 - 5:57All of the nerves inside
are from the internal clitoris, -
5:57 - 6:01which gets stimulated
both from external and internal portions. -
6:04 - 6:06With Cliteracy I felt that -
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6:06 - 6:08Yes, language has been this way
-
6:08 - 6:10of restricting and confining
the female body, -
6:10 - 6:12but if language can do these thing,
-
6:12 - 6:15it can also liberate,
it can also be expansive. -
6:15 - 6:18It's also an opportunity to come together.
-
6:18 - 6:23And so I sought to use language
as a way to shift the discourse -
6:23 - 6:26and create new space and more alignment.
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6:29 - 6:32With Cliteracy,
I first began with the term, -
6:32 - 6:34and then a definition of the term,
-
6:34 - 6:35and then an eye chart.
-
6:35 - 6:37The aesthetics of this project
-
6:37 - 6:39were also extremely
important and intentional. -
6:39 - 6:42I avoided any kind of pink and purple;
-
6:42 - 6:44I didn't use flowers;
-
6:45 - 6:47I didn't use any fabric or yarn,
-
6:47 - 6:49anything soft and fluffy.
-
6:49 - 6:53I also didn't make any small works
that you could hold in your hand -
6:53 - 6:55or eat off of like plates.
-
6:55 - 6:59I also intentionally avoided
any kind of sexual imagery, -
6:59 - 7:03any kind of graphic, close-up,
literal depictions. -
7:03 - 7:07I think that everywhere we see
the exposed female body, -
7:07 - 7:11and yet we don't know the actual
female sexual organ, the clitoris. -
7:11 - 7:13So showing it is not the point, right?
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7:13 - 7:15Understanding it is the point.
-
7:15 - 7:18Literacy of it, knowledge
of it is the point. -
7:19 - 7:20[The hole is not the whole]
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7:20 - 7:23(Laughter)
-
7:23 - 7:25The hole is not the whole.
-
7:25 - 7:27With Cliteracy I had a lot of fun
with word-play. -
7:27 - 7:29There was just so much
material to work with -
7:29 - 7:31and so much to talk about.
-
7:34 - 7:37I also am making
the radical claim with Cliteracy -
7:37 - 7:39that we can't truly be free
-
7:39 - 7:41if our bodies are assailed.
-
7:41 - 7:45We can't truly be fully
enjoying our democracy -
7:45 - 7:47when half of the population
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7:47 - 7:50can't speak about their own body,
is censored when they say the words -
7:50 - 7:52because these words are taboo,
-
7:52 - 7:55or are regularly having sex
without orgasms. -
7:55 - 7:56And we don't talk about this.
-
7:57 - 8:00I'm making the radical claim
that freedom in society -
8:00 - 8:03can also be measured
by the distribution of orgasms. -
8:03 - 8:05This could be one indicator that we use
-
8:05 - 8:10when we look at education,
access to health care, -
8:11 - 8:12economics.
-
8:12 - 8:15We could also say: How
are orgasms being distributed? -
8:15 - 8:18That tells us something about a society.
-
8:21 - 8:22There is no lack.
-
8:23 - 8:24Truly.
-
8:24 - 8:27Freud invented the paradigm
of the phallus versus the lack. -
8:27 - 8:32He said that men have the phallus,
they have the penis, they have agency; -
8:32 - 8:36women have a lack,
they have a vagina, they have a void. -
8:36 - 8:39In fact, Freud was wrong,
-
8:39 - 8:42the vagina is not the female
sexual organ, it is the clitoris. -
8:42 - 8:46There is no lack, none of us have lack,
none of us are lacking, we're all whole. -
8:48 - 8:53And none of us need to be depicted
in terms solely of a void. -
8:55 - 8:57[Girls are taught it's normal
for sex to hurt. Phallusy.] -
8:57 - 9:02In many ways, all of us have had
a psychological clitoridectomy -
9:02 - 9:05because the clitoris is never taught.
-
9:05 - 9:11In sex education it is taught that
boys are both sexual and reproductive, -
9:11 - 9:14boys have erections, boys have wet dreams,
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9:15 - 9:16boys ejaculate,
-
9:16 - 9:19and then the semen fertilizes the egg.
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9:19 - 9:23Girls, we're taught,
have reproductive organs, -
9:23 - 9:27they menstruate, menstruation is painful.
-
9:27 - 9:31Girls should not get pregnant
if they don't mean to. -
9:31 - 9:33Girls should not get
sexually transmitted diseases. -
9:33 - 9:35We never learn about the clitoris.
-
9:35 - 9:37We never learn that girls have desire,
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9:37 - 9:38that this is natural,
-
9:39 - 9:42that girls have sexual dreams,
that girls have fantasies. -
9:43 - 9:49So already, as a culture,
I would say we all have clitoridectomies. -
9:52 - 9:55'Clitoris, say my name, say my name.'
-
9:55 - 9:57I really enjoyed using word-play
-
9:57 - 10:01and putting the clitoris
into popular culture and song lyrics. -
10:02 - 10:07So much of popular culture, music -
the female genitals are kind of riffed on -
10:07 - 10:09but almost always in a negative way.
-
10:10 - 10:12If you want to humiliate a man,
-
10:12 - 10:15call him a word
for female genitals, right? -
10:15 - 10:18But this is also an opportunity,
you can just pop in the clit, -
10:18 - 10:21and suddenly the whole song changes;
it's very powerful. -
10:21 - 10:23So, this is a Destiny's Child song,
-
10:23 - 10:25there're many more
in the Laws of Cliteracy -
10:25 - 10:28like 'Ain't no half-stepping to the clit,'
-
10:29 - 10:31'Sleeping on the clit? That shit cray',
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10:31 - 10:32which it is.
-
10:35 - 10:38Here's an example from looking below
at the 100 Laws of Cliteracy. -
10:38 - 10:43So this work spans 13 feet long
by 10 feet tall. -
10:44 - 10:45It dwarfs anyone's body.
-
10:46 - 10:49When I first showed this work,
I had no idea what the response would be. -
10:49 - 10:51Of course, I was hoping
it would be positive, -
10:51 - 10:52but I didn't know.
-
10:52 - 10:58And I have to say, I was overwhelmed
with the way audiences responded. -
10:58 - 11:00They really wanted
to have this conversation. -
11:00 - 11:03They would stay with the work
for 15 minutes. -
11:03 - 11:05I would come back,
they would still be there, -
11:05 - 11:06they would have friends with them.
-
11:06 - 11:09And I felt like this work was needed.
-
11:10 - 11:12I was invited to speak about it a lot,
-
11:12 - 11:15and I was also contacted privately.
-
11:15 - 11:17People shared secrets with me,
-
11:17 - 11:20people told me for the first time
they didn't feel ashamed about their body, -
11:20 - 11:23or they went home with this knowledge
-
11:23 - 11:26and are having a great time
with their girlfriend, -
11:26 - 11:28and wanted to thank me for that.
-
11:28 - 11:30So this was extremely gratifying.
-
11:30 - 11:34I think for me, what made me feel
like I was onto something -
11:34 - 11:37was that such a diverse group of people
supported this project: -
11:38 - 11:43men and women, young and old,
religious and secular, queer and straight. -
11:44 - 11:48So many people came together
to support this project. -
11:48 - 11:53And I was contacted by people
from as far as New Zealand, Egypt, Brazil, -
11:53 - 11:56saying: 'How can we help you
with this project? -
11:56 - 12:00Can you translate this project
into Arabic or into Portuguese, -
12:00 - 12:02like, we need this here in our country.'
-
12:04 - 12:09I wanted Cliteracy to go everywhere,
but I didn't know how to do that yet, -
12:09 - 12:10and I'm still figuring that out.
-
12:10 - 12:12But I know that it's needed.
-
12:12 - 12:15And I know that it can't just stay
within the walls of the art world. -
12:16 - 12:20I don't consider myself a street artist,
but I began making work on the street -
12:20 - 12:23for the same reason
that I think a lot of artist do - -
12:23 - 12:25I wanted to communicate more broadly.
-
12:29 - 12:33This is an example from a documentary
of just me putting up some pieces. -
12:33 - 12:36These are prints
that I made on a news print, -
12:36 - 12:39then I'm putting them up with wheat paste
just like old posters were put up. -
12:39 - 12:41I'm just doing this in Brooklyn.
-
12:42 - 12:44Some people like to do street art
at the night time, -
12:44 - 12:47I do it in the day
because I feel like it's a little safer, -
12:47 - 12:50the anonymity of the crowd in New York.
-
12:50 - 12:51So far so good.
-
12:52 - 12:55And one of the cool things
about doing street art -
12:55 - 12:57is that people will comment on your work.
-
12:57 - 12:59Sometimes they cross it out or destroy it,
-
12:59 - 13:02but other times
they put their art on top of it. -
13:02 - 13:04And in this case that happened.
-
13:04 - 13:07Again, like when I showed
the work in the gallery, -
13:07 - 13:09on the street there was a big response,
-
13:09 - 13:10people would photograph it,
-
13:10 - 13:12they would post it
on Twitter and Instagram. -
13:12 - 13:14And it felt like I was talking
about something -
13:14 - 13:16that needed to be talked about,
-
13:16 - 13:19that the project was needed
and people were grateful to find it -
13:19 - 13:21and to keep pushing it out there more.
-
13:24 - 13:29Doing the street work emboldened me
to take on even crazier ideas -
13:29 - 13:32that I never thought
I would find myself doing. -
13:32 - 13:38And I actually, together with an artist
named Clit Eastwood, or Ken Thomas, -
13:38 - 13:42held the world's first-ever
clit rodeo last summer. -
13:42 - 13:45We created a rideable golden clit.
-
13:45 - 13:47(Laughter)
-
13:47 - 13:50And we held the first clit rodeo.
-
13:50 - 13:53And, you know, there
were two rules to the rodeo. -
13:54 - 13:56Basically, one: respect the clit.
-
13:56 - 13:57Respect it.
-
13:57 - 13:58Two: have fun.
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13:58 - 14:00Those were the rules.
-
14:00 - 14:05We had so many riders who wanted to ride,
more than we could host for our event. -
14:05 - 14:08But the riders were judged
on three categories: -
14:08 - 14:11dexterity, style and generosity.
-
14:12 - 14:14And they were really
good riders, I have to say. -
14:14 - 14:16I was worried that it might
get a little boring -
14:16 - 14:19because as you saw on the previous slide,
it was just a spring. -
14:19 - 14:21But people were reading
erotica to the clit, -
14:22 - 14:25someone did a striptease for the clit,
someone surfed the clit, -
14:25 - 14:28someone offered a cigarette to the clit,
and then, like - -
14:29 - 14:32There was a couple where
the woman was nine-months-pregnant; -
14:32 - 14:33she was riding,
-
14:33 - 14:37and her husband was in the background
as her backup dancer, dancing around ... -
14:37 - 14:40So, it was way better
than I ever expected. -
14:42 - 14:45I just was thrilled because
the clit was the star of the show. -
14:45 - 14:46Finally!
-
14:49 - 14:52I've always wanted Cliteracy
to be in the public space, -
14:52 - 14:56to be at large scale,
to be seen over time, -
14:56 - 14:58not to have to be hidden away
or be a secret. -
14:58 - 15:01And I had the opportunity last fall.
-
15:01 - 15:06Together with Center and Santa Fe we
put up a 35 feet billboard of Cliteracy, -
15:06 - 15:08or 11 metre billboard.
-
15:08 - 15:09The text says:
-
15:09 - 15:12'Democracy without cliteracy - phallusy'.
-
15:12 - 15:14And I was thrilled to do this,
-
15:14 - 15:17especially because where it was
on this highway -
15:17 - 15:20is travelled by such
a broad range of people, -
15:20 - 15:26from long-haul truck drivers
to art collectors and everyone in between. -
15:26 - 15:29The billboard company
was a little bit less psyched -
15:29 - 15:31about how much feedback
they got about the billboard, -
15:31 - 15:33but I thought this was great.
-
15:33 - 15:35A lot of people were like:
'What are you selling? -
15:35 - 15:36I don't understand.'
-
15:38 - 15:41I actually got a call that I'll never
forget from a mom, saying: -
15:42 - 15:44'I have to drive this route
with my son every day, -
15:44 - 15:46and I don't know what to tell him.'
-
15:48 - 15:51But I was thrilled because she's going
to talk to him about cliteracy, -
15:51 - 15:54and this is something
that he needs to know about. -
15:56 - 15:58Cliteracy needs more than text though,
-
15:58 - 16:01and I always knew that
I wanted to explore the form as well. -
16:01 - 16:04None of us know this form, right?
I didn't know this form. -
16:04 - 16:05So I set about making
-
16:05 - 16:09the world's first anatomically correct
sculpture of the clitoris. -
16:09 - 16:12And this was something
that was actually quite hard to do -
16:12 - 16:15because there are so few accurate
representations of the anatomy. -
16:15 - 16:20And when you find
these very few drawings or scans, -
16:20 - 16:23they contradict each other,
they don't make sense. -
16:23 - 16:28So, it was actually not that easy to do,
but I set about making this form. -
16:31 - 16:36With the form I wanted to not only
explore the anatomy and get it accurate, -
16:36 - 16:41but I also wanted to show
the gesture of beauty of this organ -
16:41 - 16:43and the gracefulness of it.
-
16:47 - 16:52Here is the first sculpture that I know of
of the anatomically correct clitoris. -
16:52 - 16:55It's six feet tall and five feet wide.
-
16:55 - 16:59And I wanted to create an iconic form
-
17:00 - 17:04of this unseen organ half of us have,
-
17:04 - 17:07all of us were born through the body
of someone that has a clitoris. -
17:07 - 17:11Everyone in this room was born through
the body of someone that has a clitoris. -
17:11 - 17:13So all of us have been touched
by the clitoris. -
17:13 - 17:16This is universal
and yet we don't know about it. -
17:16 - 17:18So I wanted to create
an iconic form that's memorable, -
17:18 - 17:21that puts this into our consciousness.
-
17:23 - 17:26And I hope that finally this form
would be treated with honour and respect -
17:26 - 17:28and not be treated as obscene.
-
17:28 - 17:30I think it's a beautiful form,
-
17:30 - 17:32and I didn't know it,
-
17:32 - 17:35but once I saw it,
it started to feel familiar in this way. -
17:35 - 17:38And I started to see it around
in the natural world, in plants. -
17:38 - 17:42I also saw it in engravings,
on architectural sites. -
17:42 - 17:45I saw it in weavings
of oriental tapestries. -
17:45 - 17:46I started to see it around.
-
17:46 - 17:48And that was very exciting.
-
17:48 - 17:52And the form is interesting
not strictly as a sculpture, -
17:52 - 17:54but in patterns.
-
17:55 - 17:56There's something very exciting
-
17:56 - 18:00about looking into the power of the small,
the power of multiplicity. -
18:00 - 18:04Instead of creating just
this singular superior object, -
18:04 - 18:06what about putting
all these tiny beautiful forms -
18:06 - 18:09that together form a baby-clit army.
-
18:09 - 18:11The one on the right,
-
18:11 - 18:12(Laughter)
-
18:12 - 18:13I call it 'Fleur-de-clits',
-
18:13 - 18:17and the one on the left
was later used in the intervention -
18:17 - 18:18at the Whitney Museum.
-
18:19 - 18:23So here's a sort of subversive
clit army coming together -
18:23 - 18:26to make the 'Fleur-de-clit',
which is this beautiful pattern. -
18:26 - 18:28But unfortunately,
if some people knew what it was, -
18:28 - 18:29it wouldn't be allowed to be.
-
18:29 - 18:32And that's sort of the rub of it.
-
18:33 - 18:37Here is an example of more
clit forms and patterns that I created. -
18:37 - 18:39This is a clit damask pattern
-
18:39 - 18:43with clit forms burnished onto wood.
-
18:43 - 18:45On the left is a new sculpture.
-
18:46 - 18:49So, this is the first sketch
of an invisible clit sculpture. -
18:49 - 18:51It's the same digital form
-
18:51 - 18:54that I used to make the gold sculpture
I just showed to you. -
18:54 - 18:56But this exists in the negative space.
-
18:56 - 18:59So I used the laser
to actually cut out the form -
18:59 - 19:00from clear plexiglass.
-
19:00 - 19:05And so this invisible sculpture
addresses the fact -
19:05 - 19:09that this is omnipresent,
and yet it's negated, it's invisible, -
19:09 - 19:11it's not allowed to be spoken of.
-
19:13 - 19:15I also continued
with this idea of negation -
19:15 - 19:18and using the laser to burn away
-
19:18 - 19:20with laser-cut works on paper.
-
19:22 - 19:25And I developed a brand new technology.
-
19:25 - 19:27You might not have heard about it,
-
19:27 - 19:29but it's very cutting edge.
-
19:29 - 19:30I'll try to explain.
-
19:30 - 19:34It's called 'clitglass',
and the way that it works - -
19:34 - 19:35anyone can wear it;
-
19:35 - 19:39anyone who wants neutral vision
can wear a clitglass. -
19:39 - 19:42So you put on the clitglass,
-
19:42 - 19:45and you look through
the perspective of the clit. -
19:45 - 19:49And the clit refracts
any kind of phallocentricacy -
19:49 - 19:50that's coming back at you.
-
19:50 - 19:54And so you obtain neutral vision,
or what I like to call 'normal' vision. -
19:54 - 19:55(Laughter)
-
19:55 - 20:00Now, you can use clitglass
at the Whitney Museum, -
20:00 - 20:02or you can use it at work,
in front of the TV, -
20:02 - 20:04even at a family reunion.
-
20:04 - 20:06(Laughter)
-
20:06 - 20:10This is an example of looking through
this cutting edge technology. -
20:12 - 20:13So those forms that I showed earlier,
-
20:14 - 20:17I also played a game at my intervention
at the Whitney Museum, -
20:17 - 20:20called 'put a clit on it', or -
-
20:20 - 20:22'clit-dazzle the Whitney'.
-
20:22 - 20:26So basically I handed out
these unknown clit forms, and I said: -
20:26 - 20:29'Put the clit wherever
you think it needs to go - -
20:29 - 20:31put it as a subject in art history,
-
20:31 - 20:33put into the designs,
put it on the American flag. -
20:33 - 20:36Whole country has a problem
with illcliteracy. -
20:36 - 20:37Help America out.
-
20:37 - 20:39Just take the clit where it needs to go.'
-
20:39 - 20:43So you can see on the lower left,
that's a Clitchtenstein. -
20:44 - 20:47On the lower right, Clitsper Johns.
-
20:49 - 20:52This is the family at the Whitney Museum
during the intervention, -
20:52 - 20:56and the boy on the left
who looks to be about 11 years old, -
20:56 - 20:57at one point asks his mom -
-
20:57 - 21:01they'd been wearing the clitglasses
for about 15 minutes, having a great time. -
21:01 - 21:03He was like, 'Mom, what's a clit?'
-
21:03 - 21:04(Laughter)
-
21:04 - 21:08And she said: 'Oh, it's a really sensitive
part of the woman's body.' -
21:08 - 21:10And he was like, 'Okay, cool.'
-
21:11 - 21:12And I was thrilled because
-
21:12 - 21:15one: he felt comfortable
asking the question; -
21:15 - 21:18two: his mom was supportive
and answered the question. -
21:18 - 21:21And it was totally normal -
nothing obscene, nothing secret, -
21:21 - 21:25no one had to be dragged out of the room,
no one had to be ashamed. -
21:25 - 21:29And that's what I'm hoping
that Cliteracy can continue to do. -
21:30 - 21:34Overwhelmingly, the response
to Cliteracy has been positive. -
21:34 - 21:38So many people have supported the project
and wanted to help with it. -
21:38 - 21:42And there've been a few institutions
who have courageously started showing it. -
21:42 - 21:45But there's so much more
that needs to be done. -
21:47 - 21:52My dream is to radically change
the way that we think about bodies -
21:52 - 21:54so that everyone's body is respected.
-
21:55 - 21:59I want to do this by creating
large scale permanent public sculptures -
21:59 - 22:02that exist for thousands of years.
-
22:02 - 22:04I want to work with metals and stone
-
22:04 - 22:07so that these forms don't disappear
in future generations, -
22:07 - 22:11and we don't have to have
this conversation again and again. -
22:13 - 22:17Democracy without cliteracy is a phallusy.
-
22:20 - 22:23I want cliteracy to be taught in schools
-
22:23 - 22:28so that no child has
an unnameable part of their body. -
22:28 - 22:32The clit should be a starring role
in any bedroom that it's in. -
22:32 - 22:35And it shouldn't be censored
in the Parliament. -
22:37 - 22:40So, in closing, I want to ask you
-
22:40 - 22:42to see the clit.
-
22:42 - 22:44See it everywhere.
-
22:44 - 22:46Don't stop seeing it.
-
22:46 - 22:48And if you need help,
-
22:49 - 22:52you can borrow
this pair of glasses from me. -
22:53 - 22:55And don't just stop with seeing it.
-
22:55 - 22:58Say it. Say its name.
-
23:01 - 23:04(Applause) (Cheers)
-
23:04 - 23:05Thank you.
-
23:05 - 23:07(Applause)
- Title:
- A case for cliteracy | Sophia Wallace | TEDxSalford
- Description:
-
Sophia Wallace talks about 'Cliteracy', a critically acclaimed project addressing citizenship and body sovereignty using the medium of text-based objects, unauthorized street installation and interactive sculptural forms.
Sophia Wallace is an American conceptual artist and photographer. Through the use of images, video and mixed media, she explores alterity. Wallace’s focus is how otherness is constructed visually on the gendered, sexualized, racialized body. Wallace has presented her work in major exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad, including Kunsthalle Wien Museum, Art Basel Miami, Scope NY, Taschen Gallery and Aperture Gallery among others. She was awarded PDN's Curator Award, Critic's Pick by the Griffin Museum, American Photography AP-25 and ArtSlant's Showcase Award. Her work has been reviewed in BLOUIN Art Info, The New Yorker, Salon, Huffington Post, Fast Company, Hyperallergic and Bitch Magazine, among other publications.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 23:17
Rhonda Jacobs edited English subtitles for A case for cliteracy | Sophia Wallace | TEDxSalford | ||
Rhonda Jacobs approved English subtitles for A case for cliteracy | Sophia Wallace | TEDxSalford | ||
Rhonda Jacobs edited English subtitles for A case for cliteracy | Sophia Wallace | TEDxSalford | ||
Rhonda Jacobs edited English subtitles for A case for cliteracy | Sophia Wallace | TEDxSalford | ||
Rhonda Jacobs edited English subtitles for A case for cliteracy | Sophia Wallace | TEDxSalford | ||
Rhonda Jacobs edited English subtitles for A case for cliteracy | Sophia Wallace | TEDxSalford | ||
Rhonda Jacobs edited English subtitles for A case for cliteracy | Sophia Wallace | TEDxSalford | ||
Rhonda Jacobs edited English subtitles for A case for cliteracy | Sophia Wallace | TEDxSalford |