Anyone on social media in the last month or so has been bombarded by the Free Pussy Riot campaign. And rightly so. But are we too pussy to free the South African Pussy Riot?
The Russian controversy surrounded the issue of free speech, particularly in protest of the dominant politics of the country and government. The South African Pussy Riot does not exist, of course. But it should. And if it did, it would have the above-mentioned issues in common with its Russian counterpart, but would have to centre around realities and issues much more important than a political statement. The SA version would, and should, centre around the very personal and dire issues of the empowerment of women – a real PUSSY Riot.
My own response as an artist to the Free Pussy Riot campaign – ‘The Free, Riotous Pussy #freepussyriot #NSFW’ – looked at the Pussy Riot theme from a South African angle. I felt that in order to best symbolise the freedom that we as artists, activists and women in this country have, I would need to take and publish on a very public platform (my own blog, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr) a photo of my own pussy. What better way to express the freedom of our pussies? I stated: “Our pussies are free. Celebrate that our pussies can work and play unmasked. They are free to express themselves, to stand up to dominant discourse and voice the viewpoint, opinions and desires of our pussies. We are free to express ourselves about our pussies. Celebrate the Free, Riotous Pussy! #freepussyriot. Is your Pussy Free and Riotous enough to share this?”
I felt the need to situate the Pussy Riot theme in South Africa because I wanted to draw attention to the issue of the empowerment of women; how this empowerment lies in our own hands, our own pussies.
We live in a democratic country which espouses freedom of expression. Unlike the Russian group of artists and activists, South African artists and critics of government would not have to wear balaclavas and ski masks. The reason South Africans so vehemently supported the Russian women is that we’d like to believe that the arrest, incarceration and subsequent guilty verdict of the Russian artists would not occur in this country. In this country, pussies are free to riot, free to disagree, free in every sense. The aftermath of Brett Murray’s ‘The Spear’ calls this into question, as does the controversy surrounding the amendments government wants to make to the Freedom of Information Act. But this issue of artistic freedom is sadly secondary to a much larger, more grave issue. In reality our pussies are not completely free, because we also live in a country with astronomical rape figures; a country in which women still struggle for power over their bodies, let alone their intellectual freedom and freedom to express themselves.
The astounding thing about the Free Pussy Riot campaign was that social media networks were littered with a previously unheard of word in everyday conversation: pussy. The irony in this underlies the limited freedom of our pussies; an irony which my ‘The Free, Riotous Pussy #freepussyriot #NSFW’ attempted to expose. The uncomfortable and taboo ‘pussy’ word was liberally bandied about by women who, in most cases, would be uncomfortable in using the word to speak about their own pussies. The fact that the pussy in question was related to a rock band and group of activists thousands of miles away made it safer for these people to read and write about it.
My question is thus this: the armchair liberalism that is Facebook posts about freeing Pussy Riot and rants about the abomination that is rape, corrective rape and the disempowerment of women. But can this same armchair liberalist Facebook speak about its own pussy, celebrate the fact that we can freely and without masks express our pussies?
The answer, apparently, is no.
In ‘The Free, Riotous Pussy #freepussyriot #NSFW’ the ‘NSFW’ disclaimer and the use of the word ‘pussy’ got a few views on my blog, and the tentative ‘liked’ my Facebook post. As a friend of mine commented: “I liked it. I was kinda brave. ‘I am woman. Hear me squeak.’” But no shares. The pussy is share-able in its pasteurised ‘Pussy Riot’ form, but not in reality.
We don’t need Putin to censor us. We censor ourselves.
We censor ourselves because the metaphorical pussy is more palatable than the actual one (pun intended). The same womanhood that cringes when it hears the word ‘pussy,’ is the same womanhood that uses childhood terms to speak about its own pussies, is the same womanhood that is embarrassed to buy and speak about tampons; is the same womanhood that disavows that it masturbates, is the same womenhood that allows the words ‘pussy’ and ‘cunt’ to remain in the mouths of men who use it to denigrate women and each other.
“What does the freedom to speak about tampons, masturbation and pussy have to do with the rape crisis?” you ask. Everything. A womanhood that is not free enough to uncensor itself disempowers itself. A womanhood that is embarrassed about its own pussies disempowers the pussy by rendering it a Victorian object of shame, disgust and self-loathing. A womanhood that cannot speak about its own anatomy with pride is a womanhood that rapes itself, daily. This womanhood looks to government, the police, ‘Them’ (almost always male) to do something about the empowerment of women. It wrings its hands about the rape of its sisters. This womanhood is a victim, sitting back and asking others to do something about its disempowerment, its abuse, its rape. This womanhood says “No!” to rapists but cannot say “My pussy is my pussy!” because it is too pussy to use the word ‘pussy.’
We’re too pussy to free our pussies. We’re too pussy to free ourselves. We’re too pussy to free and unleash the South African Pussy Riot. We raise our hands in solidarity with our Russian sisters, disbelieving that their expression landed them in jail. But what use is the freedom of expression we have in this country when we cannot use that freedom to express ourselves due to our own censorship?
It’s time for a Pussy Riot in South Africa! Let’s not be too pussy to revolt!
