Genesis P-Orridge died on March 14 in New York. Genesis led a life of spectacle, philosophy and professionally challenging the norms of middle class bourgeois culture. The work of Genesis represents an important bridge between the counter culture of the 1960s and the ubiquitous mediation of culture in the present day cyber society. The work of Genesis is almost a road map of the shift from counter culture to resistance, whereby the idea of 'alternative' was swept up by mass consumption and distribution models and made into a form of identity. This formation of identity according to the market is something that Genesis fell into, and seemed to be relying upon in the challenge to conservative definition of gender. The resistance to conservative gender norms shifted Genesis back towards the idea of marginal, counter or revolutionary.
In this film Genesis and his lover, Lady Jaye, express their deep bond by melding their identities through plastic surgery.
Roger Vadim's 1973 film that represents a high point of an era of gender politics. As Vadim himself stated;
My attitude to women is accepted today in a way that it wasn't when I started out as director. But today woman overreact - they pretend to be free on an intellectual and sexual level but because of our Christian traditions sex is always associated with guilt. Now however it's possible for a woman to have the same relationship with sex as a man - a man who is a lover can be a Don Juan whereas women like that were always considered whores or femmes faciles. But I think a woman can be free without being a whore. A female Don Juan can exist nowadays without a sense of guilt.
He later elaborated:
Don Juan is the end of a period - problems about love and sex, cruelty and romanticism on an aesthetic level - and I wanted to finish that period with Brigitte because I started with her as a director (And God Created Woman). Underneath what people call "the Bardot myth" was something interesting, even though she was never considered the most professional actress in the world. For years, since she has been growing older, and the Bardot myth has become just a souvenir, I wanted to work with Brigitte. I was curious in her as a woman and I had to get to the end of something with her, to get out of her and express many things I felt were in her. Brigitte always gave the impression of sexual freedom - she is a completely open and free person, without any aggression. So I gave her the part of a man - that amused me.
Born in Flames is a 1983 documentary-style feminist science fiction film by Lizzie Borden that explores racism, classism, sexism and heterosexism in an alternative United States socialist democracy.
The plot concerns two feminist groups in New York City, each voicing their concerns to the public by pirate radio. One group, led by an outspoken white lesbian, Isabel (Adele Bertei), operates "Radio Ragazza". The other group, led by a soft-spoken African-American, Honey (Honey), operates "Phoenix Radio". The local community is stimulated into action after a world-traveling political activist, Adelaide Norris (Jean Satterfield), is arrested upon arriving at a New York City airport, and suspiciously dies while in police custody. Also, there is a Women's Army led by Hilary Hurst (Hilary Hurst) and advised by Zella (Flo Kennedy) that initially both Honey and Isabel refuse to join. This group, along with Norris and the radio stations, are under investigation by a callous FBI agent (Ron Vawter). Their progress is tracked by three interns (Becky Johnston, Pat Murphy, Kathryn Bigelow) for a socialist newspaper run by screenwriter Ed Bowes, who go so far they get fired. The story involves several different women coming from different perspectives and attempts to show several examples of how sexism plays out, and how it can be dealt with through direct action. A famous scene is one during which two men are attacking a woman on the street and dozens of women on bicycles with whistles come to chase the men away and comfort the woman. The women in the movie have different ideas about what can and should be done, but all know that it is up to them, because the government will not take care of it.
HRC President Chad Griffin presents Director and Producer Lana Wachowski with the HRC Visibility Award at the 2012 HRC San Francisco gala. Lana speaks of her journey and why now is the most important time to get involved in the fight for LGBT equality.
"Every human life represents a negotiation between the public and the private"
"Anonymity allows you access to civic space, to a form of participation in public life, to an egalitarian invisibility"
"Knowledge had the materiality, not unlike the materiality of a ladder, that could be used to gain access to places and worlds that were previously unimaginable".
Changing genetics is not enough, creating the ultimate postgender human requires changing the brain itself. The gendered human brain could be rewired to fit a postgender blueprint.
"but only the blurring and erosion of biological sex, of the gendering of the brain, and of binary social roles by emerging technologies will enable individuals to access all human potentials and experiences regardless of their born sex or assumed gender."
Yes, the technological means to these bizarre ends are being developed. They have been in the works for a long time, and we are now confronted with material like this which illustrates the postgender goals which have fueled research from the very beginning. Transhumanism has taken old postgender ideas and built upon them with the description of far more advanced technologies.
"trans- or post-humans would at least be able to transcend the limitations of biological sex and would eventually be able to transcend the biological altogether into cybernetic or virtual form."
The fact that we already depend highly on virtual worlds, especially in terms of satisfying sexual desires is also mentioned. Virtual sex is touted as being safer, easier, and more customizable than traditional human relationships. The gender binary is slowly eroding as people blend their sexual identity with avatars of a different gender and often a different species. The ultimate revolution in virtual sex would occur when artificial intelligence could simulate the erotic response of a human, making virtual sex indistinguishable from the real thing.
"But the final liberation from dyadic, gendered, heteronormative relationships will likely come about through use of drugs that suppress pair-bonding impulses."
Why would anyone actually put such bold remarks down in writing? Why is the erosion of dualistic gender being sincerely explored by the scientific establishment? Is there a collective subconscious desire to merge the two sexes into one?
