Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

The Joan of Arc theatre group are at it again

55 replies

Definitelyrandom · 18/04/2023 13:56

This time with a play about Elizabeth Southerden Thompson who painted military subjects in the 19th century, was a Catholic convert, married a British officer, went with him round the British Empire, raised 6 children and retired to a castle in Ireland. While she was a keen amateur military historian, there is more than a suggestion that she started painting military scenes as a wheeze to distinguish herself from other women artists.

But......

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/apr/18/victorian-war-artist-elizabeth-southerden-thompson

"“She was transgressing gender and the expectations of women at the time,” says Milk Presents’ Luke Skilbeck who will co-direct the production with Smith. “That’s a queer act.”"

If that statement isn't putting women into a stereotypical box, I'm not sure what is.

The "cast is made up of drag performers including Death Drop’s LJ Parkinson and Emer Dineen who plays Elizabeth. Drag kings will depict the academicians, those men intent on keeping Thompson from having a seat at the table. “If we had men saying the things that they said it would be gross. We’re sending it up a little bit,” says Brammar.......

The show will also be informed by the spirit of music hall, Smith explains, because it was a popular form of entertainment at the time and it accommodated different forms of gender expression. While the language of the period may have been different, says Skilbeck, “If I was transgender at the time and wanted to find other trans people, I’d probably find them in the music hall.”

“I want people to have the sense that they are in a queer space,” he continues. “So, we cast people who really know how to work the crowd.”"

This is all far more tangential - indeed irrelevant - to the subject than even the Joan of Arc one was. Poor woman will be turning in her grave.....

‘She was transgressing expectations’: the Victorian war artist who inspired a drag show

Her military painting was such a sensation that it was bought by Queen Victoria. A new play explores Elizabeth Southerden Thompson’s trailblazing art, her privilege – and the prejudice she faced

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/apr/18/victorian-war-artist-elizabeth-southerden-thompson

OP posts:
Beowulfa · 19/04/2023 12:04

MouseMinge · 19/04/2023 04:20

How to tie queer theory in knots. Side saddle.

Before the 14th century women didn't ride side saddle. Then it became the norm. Some women refused to ride side saddle. Queer. Catherine the Great was one of them. Queer. All modern women. Queer? But now riding side saddle is not the norm so are the women who do it now queer because that's not the norm? Were pre 14th century women proto queer? Are modern women horse riders post queer. When is the side saddle queer cut off?

Answer all the questions, queer theorist and if your limited brain cells start to malfunction, maybe, just maybe, it's because the whole thing is a total bollocks.

Next week: Were Victorian women miners queer and should the children down the mines have been given puberty blockers? Discuss, you heinous arseholes.

Were the male grooms who exercised horses for the likes of Downton's Lady Mary (horses need to be trained to respond to side saddle riding) oppressed transwomen?

Sidaway · 19/04/2023 12:11

I'm queer! I work in IT and like astronomy! So I am, I am, I am!!!

(Never mind that I'm as straight as a very straight thing).

🙄

QueenOfThorns · 19/04/2023 12:20

IvyTwines · 19/04/2023 09:57

@Finallybreathingout "I’m surprised by how viscerally angry I am at this nonsense.

The history of women is being stolen away. The spirit of women who broke boundaries and risked consequences for doing and saying things against the expectations of the time is being pushed aside in favour of appropriating them to create a narrative of trans history."

It's the equivalent of taking the story of a historical black person living in Europe or the US in the 18th or 19th century who managed to break through the boundaries and limitations forced on them by the extreme racism of the era, and a 21st century British theatre group claiming to be 'progressive' suggesting that somehow that boundary-breaking meant this person wasn't really black, and portraying that individual using a white actor blacked up, and the arts council thinking this was such a brilliant new insight into the workings of historical racism it gave them shedloads of cash to stage it.

Thank you for this excellent analogy. It really puts things into perspective.

Datdamndamp · 19/04/2023 21:55

MouseMinge · 19/04/2023 04:20

How to tie queer theory in knots. Side saddle.

Before the 14th century women didn't ride side saddle. Then it became the norm. Some women refused to ride side saddle. Queer. Catherine the Great was one of them. Queer. All modern women. Queer? But now riding side saddle is not the norm so are the women who do it now queer because that's not the norm? Were pre 14th century women proto queer? Are modern women horse riders post queer. When is the side saddle queer cut off?

Answer all the questions, queer theorist and if your limited brain cells start to malfunction, maybe, just maybe, it's because the whole thing is a total bollocks.

Next week: Were Victorian women miners queer and should the children down the mines have been given puberty blockers? Discuss, you heinous arseholes.

Fantastic post and my day is rounded in glory. "discuss you heinous assholes" Love it .

Boiledbeetle · 19/04/2023 22:44

Datdamndamp · 19/04/2023 21:55

Fantastic post and my day is rounded in glory. "discuss you heinous assholes" Love it .

😁you start and end with arses today!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread