Sic Semper Tyrannis
In October of 2021 I presented a Fire performance piece about sexual oppression live on stage at exxxotica NJ.
The purpose of this performance is to bring awareness to our history of sexual oppression and to take the steps towards change. I’m an independent adult content creator and erotic artist. The censorship and vulnerability that come along with choosing this subject of work have been eye opening to the greater issues present. The patterns and frameworks we as a collective operate from. Throughout history me and my peers would have been defaced, they would in some cultures remove the nose or seek to make the face “undesirable”. They often cut off the hair of know sex workers. And those who didn’t commit to monogamy standards were labeled and harshly judged. Sex work has been a top performing industry throughout history that is full of contradictions & misogyny.
I developed this piece to honor those before us who endured this oppression and to take a stand against future oppression.
The performance started with the song “Fever” by Peggy Lee as a burlesque style fire dance using palm torches and a fire orb. It’s a sexy song that speaks to love & sexual attraction. The lyrics; “Everybody’s got the fever, That is something you all know, Fever isn’t such a new thing, Fever started long ago” really make me think about the primitive nature to reproduce and be sexual beings has always been present. Sexuality is as natural and common as eating yet we still live in a culture that stigmatizes those who openly express their sexuality and oppresses those who attempt to earn a living from such work.
The second track was a clip from Game of Thrones. The Cersei’s walk of shame. I ripped my top open exposing a scarlet letter A on my chest and then smeared black paint all over my face. To express the judgment cast upon my performance in the previous song.
Then i chose “Sinnerman” by Nina Simone. When the song started I grabbed the scissors I had set on the stage and I cut my hair. Right there on stage. The hair it took me 2.5 years to grow out from shaving my head on day one of PolyAnnie in 2019… I cut it off as a statement & part of the performance to show the punishments our peers had to endure.
I finished the Nina song with a fire hoop.
I ended the performance with a clip from Rage Against the Machines, “Killing in the Name of”. I jumped around on stage screaming “fuck you I won’t Do what you tell me!” with a sign reading — Sic Semper Tyrannis- is a Latin phrase meaning “thus always to tyrants”. It suggests that bad, but justified outcomes should, or eventually will befall tyrants.
My message: You (the masses, the outdated frameworks that dictate our behaviors) can shame me, you can say I’m no longer desirable with my hairy pits & my ugly face and my short hair but your perspective means nothing to me. It’s time to update our collective frameworks around sexuality. Because sexuality is as diverse as humans on earth. It is something to be experienced and expressed in healthy ways that account for multiple perspectives. I decide for myself my own standards of beauty & morals around what I do with my own body.
My newest NFT collection called “Pathways” features 2 NFTs based on this performance. Both are video NFTs (15 second clips) with audio. I created the backtracks & layered audio from the stage- the MCs commentary.
“Whose Really in Control?” — captures the performance overall.
“Shame” — captures the hair cutting and buyer will receive the hair I cut off in the mail.
NFTs are available at xxxNifty.com
Buyers of NFTs in the Pathways Collection will get a free commemorative Exxxotica NJ NFT and access to my collectors club- Poly’s People.
