2022 LSU Gumbo - Book - Page 109
Sick, disgusted, angry and exhausted. These are
all emotions expressed by audience members who
participated in an interactive performance art piece
discussing sexual assault, “Resilient Body”, on March
13, at LSU’s Hopkins Black Box Theater.
“Performance allows for there to be nuanced
dialogue,” said show director Johanna Middleton, a
second-year master’s student majoring in performance
studies.
“It allows folks to come to conclusions in their
own right. Instead of being told something, you can
determine something for yourself.”
Middleton believes that when artists use more
than just their words and begin to involve their
bodies in a piece, they are able to bring more power
to the performance. By making “Resilient Body”
an interactive experience, with audience members
moving their bodies and participating in group work,
participants are able to truly engage with the topic of
sexual violence and assault.
“I think just making sure that we remember that
there are many different ways to approach addressing
this issue is so important,” said Middleton. “For
some people, that’s going to be making sure that the
university itself is being held accountable. For other
people, that means making sure that survivors feel
like they’re supported and making sure that folks
know what resources are on campus. There are so
many different layers. You just have to know that you
can make a difference if you connect to one of those
things.”
“Resilient Body” explored many different aspects of
sexual assault, not only from the survivor’s perspective
but from the perpetrator’s as well. Some audience
members shared during the performance that feelings
of guilt arose within them.
Middleton wants people who find themselves in this
position of feeling that they have made mistakes or not
done enough to protect others that it’s okay to start
somewhere, rather than do nothing at all.
“Once you are able to address how you’re thinking,
then you can be an influence in your friend groups, the
clubs you’re in and in the spaces that you partake in.
That’s how change starts to slowly ripple out,” she said.
Middleton chose to emphasize that sexual assault
is an intersectional issue that needs to be treated as so.
She feels that ignoring different experiences of sexual
assault is to ignore the issue at large.
“We’re all affected by it, but we all experience it
differently. Race plays a big part in how we experience
sexual violence, and also in how seriously sexual
violence cases are taken. Also, gender and sexuality. All
of these things affect a survivor’s experience,” she said.
She hopes that by putting on interactive
performances discussing sexual assault through an
intersectional lens in a safe and open space, people will
feel more encouraged to acknowledge survivors and
their stories.
“We need to make sure that we are acknowledging
that it isn’t just one single story in terms of what a
survivor looks like or in terms of what someone who
commits sexual violence looks like because we all
are participating in that system,” Middleton said. “I
think that’s how we really start to change the thinking
around sexual violence.”
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