Interview with Su Pinwen, who held a workshop on sexual autonomy and nude practice for women. Let's talk about gender and the body with feminist artists!
Text: Womany Irene Lei
In the drizzly afternoon, Su Pinwen and I met at the Si Theater in Dadaocheng. Located on the third floor, it has a high ceiling but not oppressive, a small magical space, neither humble nor arrogant, growing its own appearance in the city, with a whole cabinet of book walls, spiral staircases and attic corridors.
Independent artist, dance, free will, 37-year-old single, woman, vegan, cyclist, transcendentalist, Skoliosexual...
Hypersexual
Skoliosexual
This type of person is attracted to people who can be classified or defined by non-binary gender, and is an inclusive word.
It's nice not to be defined by anything and nothing. Until then, I imagined what it would be like to be a feminist artist. But perhaps in this attempt to outline, a stereotypical fallacy has been committed.
Stills from "Girl's Notice"|Photography: Luo Muxin
Su Pinwen walked over. She had long white blonde hair, a black coat, and greeting me warmly.
"It's so cold, aren't you cold?" Su Pinwen tightened his coat, shrunk his body together, and then sat down. From 2018 to 2020, Su Pinwen has performed "What Girls Need" and held a workshop on female sexual autonomy. "Theory should be on the body", I kept thinking about this sentence during the interview.
Shy but true! Nude Practice Workshop
In 2018, Su Pinwen returned to Taiwan from abroad and began to do nude-related art practice, which she called Su Pinwen's three-year feminist plan. "At that time, I thought, wow, if this thing is really going to make something, it's going to take about three years." Her voice was soft and thin, but firm, "I'm a person with good execution, I don't have many opportunities, I can only go up or forward." Many things, you have to pass your own level first, and only when you are satisfied with yourself can you have the strength to continue to break through.
After all, Su Pinwen said, it has never been easy to work on nudity (nudity), no matter what position you are, "I will score myself and be stricter than anyone out there."
In 2019, Su Pinwen held the "Female Only Salon Female Sexual Autonomy Workshop". The event was divided into five weeks, with the final class inviting all participants to a nude morning tea session. Not everyone is naked in the narrow sense, after all, people have different scales, but the participants are all in the same state of comfort.
"As a workshop leader, I find it interesting that they don't have to be naked to find themselves challenging." Su Pinwen recalled the scene, "I saw some women trying to take off their underwear, but after a while, they put it on. I think it's great, I don't care about them, let them go back to their own practice."
Stills from "Girl's Notice"|Photography: Luo Muxin
At the end of 2020, Su Pinwen will hold the "Dragon Slaying Salon - Contemporary Performance Workshop/Nude Practice Workshop" at Si Theatre. Let go of the difficult and abstract academic discussions, and turn directly to feel and perceive those tactile experiences that actually act on the body.
Su Pinwen comes from a dance background, and when he looks back on the experience of watching dance performances, he is actually very visually oriented, "When we humans have five sensory abilities, but only one is strengthened, we will lead the art in that direction." This idea can be said to be one of the reasons for the birth of the 2020 "Nude Practice Workshop".
"I found that I was getting better and better with my body, and I felt as if I could 'share' these things, not 'teach'." Feminism has become very popular in the theater world this year, and she feels that the atmosphere is there, and she wants to do something more different, "What we lack more is the practical class of the body."
In fact, as early as 2013, Su Pinwen began to do tactile exercises, and is also trying to extend it to the level of art therapy. "All the people who asked me to do touch treatment were women because they had so many unpleasant tactile experiences in the past." Most of these participants took a long time to think about it before they contacted Su Pinwen, "I can feel that they take these things very seriously."
This kind of art therapy is still a niche at the moment, and some people believe in it and some people don't. "You can only do physical exercises." Su Pinwen shrugged, believe it or not, "Some things must be done by the body, and everyone's energy display is also very different."
2018 Dragon Slaying Workshop |
Gender is a public issue, and so is the body
Most of the girls I have met have disliked or are dissatisfied with their bodies.
"Have you ever hated your body, frankly no." Su Pinwen shared an inexplicable experience a long time ago. She often has gray hair, and once when her cousin was talking to her, he suddenly said, "Pinwen, do you want to dye your hair black?" Then I can't talk to you." Meaning, those messy gray hairs kept him from concentrating.
"For the first time, I realized, 'My body is so nasty!' Su Pinwen reenacted his expression at that time, vividly, "I feel more surprising than offended."
That surprise comes from the discipline of outsiders on their bodies, and they can be so justifiable. This story sounds ridiculous, but it seems to have a sense of déjà vu, and we also encounter some kind of caring advice when we grow up.
"I never felt that people could offend me so easily because I wasn't serving anyone. Although I like service and I like to connect with people, I don't think of myself as a passive service. When I'm offended, I'll go back to the offense!" Su Pinwen said with a smile.
Trust your body, its intuitive response to right and wrong, is better than the brain.
"My body needs a sense of speed, a lot of it." For example, when riding a gearing bike, the sound of changing gears. I understand that it is the pursuit of spiritual freedom, and once the mind is relaxed, the body has strength.
Not only do you ride your own bike, but you can also use other means of transportation. Commuting is boring for many people, but it is the most enjoyable moment for Su Pinwen, who always reads paper in between flights and passenger transportation, "The connection between the body and herself is very free."
I asked if it was because she was alone, and she nodded.
The creator doesn't just tell one thing, he creates one thing. When you become a person who constantly stops producing and exporting, learning becomes a relaxing thing. Artists are both individuals and subjects, but they often struggle to find a connection with society. Every time you swallow and absorb, it is a question to the world. The short moments and seconds that the audience sees may be the creator's months and years of brewing.
"It's been painful, and the most painful thing is..." Su Pinwen paused for a few seconds, "Thank God, I don't have a producer, and I'm grateful to have reserved a lot of free space for myself." She didn't explain the pain, but I think the pain was not being able to do what she wanted in the way she wanted when she was comfortable.
Su Pinwen said that she is a radical feminist. I wondered, how does she ask about gender issues in body art therapy?
Radical feminism
Radical Feminism
The oppression of women is the most fundamental and profound form of exploitation and the basis of all oppression. Historically, all power structures have been dominated by men, backed by violence, and although there are differences in rights among men, with a few men dominating other men, all men have benefited from male supremacy and the exploitation of women. Since the oppression of women is a root cause of other racial, economic, political and other oppressions, it must be eradicated, otherwise it will continue to grow branches of oppression. Eliminating the oppression of women will create a new form of revolutionary change on a scale far greater than anything previously known.
"Wow, this is complicated. As a feminist, you can't just say, 'How do I want' or 'How does he want to.'" She said it was a drill — a drill for an affirmative relationship. "Equality is not a state of inelasticity, awareness of going back and forth, and dispatching a reasonable range, each other can float, equality is not a point or a line, equality itself is fluid."
"I'm in the process of working, super outsider." Although Su Pinwen is easily guided into a state of empathy, he is still generally an observer, "Touching through the skin, I want to read on the other person, how much to advance or not to advance, to confirm where I am now and where I can go next."
Stills from "Girl's Notice"|Photography: Luo Muxin
Then she said that the body is often avoided and talked about.
When the body is most comfortable, it may be the ten minutes in the bathroom, "but one thing we neglect is that we share a space, we have physical contact with too many people." Su Pinwen has always thought about treating the body as a public issue.
Su Pinwen shares her experience of being sexually harassed on the MRT. She was angry with herself, even though she had lectured the man to her face. "The most ridiculous thing is that I didn't ring that bell, I'm so angry! I should let the world know that this person is sexually harassing me." Speaking of this, Su Pinwen is still angry, obviously more gender-sensitive than ordinary people, but when he encounters sexual harassment, he still can't react 100%, "I handle it like this, how bad I am!"
Our exploration of gender in the process of growing up is to let ourselves look back, compare the path we have taken in the past, and reflect the possible shape of the future.
The relationship between gender and body is not only a biological distinction, but also those topics that we should understand but do not understand, which is individual and group - do you know your gender and body? What do you think about other people's gender and bodies? What do others think of you?
Give your body lessons: explore, and then allow some breathing
She mentioned her thoughts on the Gender Today movement. It is often said that you should love yourself, but what is loving yourself and how to love, "Loving yourself is the basic, but where to go next?" Su Pinwen tightened his coat, "You also have to know how to love others, you have to provide others with a comfortable space to love themselves, we have to learn that."
Gender discussions should be conducted with multiple perspectives. One of the labels Su Pinwen puts up for himself is Skoliosexual, "I'm particularly attracted to people who are inbetween, and he's not quite sure where he identifies himself."
"I'm completely comfortable with a person's sexuality changing, so it's super natural for me to be around bisexual people, and it feels reassuring to watch my bisexual partner personally change." This perception is also reflected in Su Pinwen's way of facing other things, "I feel patriarchal about things that have been decided, and I will deliberately not make things perfect."
When something is perfect, it doesn't seem to need to be discussed; But when something is uncertain, the potential that can still be used seems to be great.
It's a lot like a physical experience. When you no longer anticipate what your body should be, it has room to breathe.
"I'm really humanistic, and the way and space provided is slow, but necessary." That's why the nude workshop takes a few hours and needs the help of a team of professionals, who don't dictate what to do, but ask everyone to slow down and don't panic, "Our generation has the ability to take their time."
"Gender and body are the same thing." At the end of the interview, Su Pinwen made this note. "It doesn't matter if my soul is male or female, I just have a vagina! I'm going to learn to live with my body."
2018 Dragon Slaying Workshop |
Thinking of the many labels she put on herself, those words really reflect that nothing can fully define her.