GMU:Artists LabIII/Pedro Ramos/Topology of Masculinities Lab - Week 7

Boys will be boys: A performance in three acts

The video performance was developed in three acts that connect the expected performance of Men in heteronormative societies. Each of these acts are also rooted on expectations on which roles Men should play in society tracing back to thousands of years and generations, and which still rule gender dynamics contemporarily, at least up to some degree, although the socio-economical conditions of humanity have increased in many societies over the last century. Although reconfigurations of gender performance and slight progress in gender parity also took place in the last 100 years, the expected role of the Men is still attached in a level or another to such qualities.

Act 1: Protector

From Genghis Khan to the great Inca warriors, from the Scandinavian vikings to the roman emperors. Although some ancient societies had a way more parity space for women than in others, also considering that the women could also often have been warriors , across human history in planet earth the role of the Men was always connected to its quality of protecting its geographic space, its community and family. Historically, this quality was not to be underrated, but in the current state of gender-technological development, the importance of this state might indeed be questioned. However, over the last decades, most (if not all) of the geopolitical conflicts and war were still triggered by Men in a position of power, always performing the noble role of protecting their families, society, values and religion.

Act 2: Provider

On most of the modern western societies, the man had also always performed the role of the provider of the family and its community. The one that provides material comfort, security and stability to the women and the children, while the women performs the caretaker of the temple of the home - a temple where the children can feel protected and learn the dynamics of the gender order performance, in order to be able to perform them with their own families in the future. The perpetuation of such cycle is supposedly of great importance for the protection of the human race itself, and all the set of held-dearly traditions of the heteronormative family order. Despite advances on the feminism and a slight reconfiguration on the performance of such expectations on gender performance in the private space, such settings are still reproduced in a wide array of medias and elements in popular culture, such as films and toys.

Act 3: Procreator

The Procreation potential of a man is often seen, consciously our unconsciously, as an elemental value he might carry. Under a biological lens, he is the provider of the genes that protects the perpetuation of the human race. The number of sexual partners is not only an aggregated-value for the gender performance of Maleness between its Male peers, but also on the heterosexual market, at least in some communities. In some contexts, the feedback of the performance of Feminity in protecting the family, through keeping the order of the temple of the family house, and providing nutrition and emotional nurture to the family - which might not be allowed under the maleness performance rules -, is also expected in such communities for allowing the man to perform the sacred role of procreating with the maximum amount of partners, therefore being granted to develop the bliss of the carrier, one who is responsible for keeping the genes of the community alive for the upcoming generations. Dispensable to say that for the heritage protection of the biological qualities of the genes for posteriority, it is also of great importance the protection of the array of the gender performance rules of such society.

• Video Passwords: boys_P1 | boys_P2 | boys_P3

Multi-channel

A first experiment on bringing the previous interview material and the acts of the performance was also developed. So far, the installation will consist on three channels (not four channels, as first intended). The interconnection between the different channels is also thought considering the three acts.

3 Channel (First Cut)

• Pw: mchannel_3P