Fuertzabruta

This event was one of the most magical events I attended in New York. The anticipation was high; watching Marie getting progressively more excited as the show came closer, we all knew we were in for a treat.

I don’t want to ruin the entire show for anyone who will get the opportunity to experience this, but it involved props that created spectacle, engaging the audience as part of the show by having the audience watching from the same stage that the show exists, audience interaction with the actors and props, using water to spray the audience with and having one act happening above the audiences head on a clear ‘stage’ that lower down for the audience to touch, adding a tactile experience to the spectacle.

Most of the show was gender neutral, having men and women existing in most of the roles, not specifying by expected gender construction. Some areas of the show did have a little bit of a gender bias, though some members of my class didn’t agree with me. The gender bias is also what presented sexuality to the audience, for the gender construction was entirely dependant on the sexuality of the show. The women wore skirts, and during some energetic dancing the audience was treated to the exposure of their underwear, while the men remained covered, being shirtless at most (if at all?). This was entirely minor, just something to nitpick about in this blog, but as the final act came upon us I realized there was more to it than that.

The clear stage above our heads was a mini pool, and four women crawled through the water, sometimes seeming like mermaid angels, at other moments angry and dramatic, slamming their bodies down onto the surface, wearing little but underwear and slips that floated up above their heads, exposing their bare bodies. As the stage was lowered down for the audience to touch, their bodies slid past, allowing us to feel their curves, their bones, their breasts as they stared down at us through the stage.

I would not have felt uncomfortable about this display of sexuality if they were joined by men, but four women slithered past us making me feel voyeuristic, as if they were on display as women often find themselves, as sexual objects. There was no involvement of the men as sexual objects, no extreme voyeurism, nothing that could compare to how the entire audience were viewing the women in this act.

This common portrayal of sexuality does not seem any different from popular culture today, erasing a line between gender and body, the desire being for the feminine body rather than the feminine performance. A male body in that position would have lost the femininity even with the same movements and dress, which would disrupt the sexuality of the act. The female body becomes inescapable from femininity through these sexualized actions creating a moment where sex, gender and sexuality combine to create entertainment through voyeurism.