Marchioness de Sad

In an age of digital anonymity and freedom, “Marchioness de Sad”, a play on Marquis de Sade whose name inspired “sadism” and “sadistic”, shows phrases from messages I have received on my cosplay Instagram account, the aesthetic of which is kept in the border of each image, in a repeated fashion. Like de Sade, they are sexually charged although while sensitive to some, I find them amusing in their audacity. This work does not serve to judge these senders, as they could be born from desperate loneliness rather than pure misogynistic behaviour, although it is important to acknowledge this behaviour as it becomes almost normalcy as the sender hides behind their screen. Regardless of which, they are over the line. The chosen photos are posts that invited such behaviour and I aim to also highlight the tension between my perceived strength as an “object” of fantasy and how I take back power from such comments. I do this through the use of dark humour exposing the sheer absurdity of the comments out of context, which brings up the question of context when it comes to unsolicited commentary about my body and people in general within a digital persona.

There are two ways MdS can be shown, one of which is of a series of prints, displaying the sheer amount of comments and showing a range of phrases that the audience can perhaps relate to. Secondly a silent video with the same image as a background the only thing changing being the text which again shows the mass of them. The prints have the comments repeated down the page (inspired by the work of Baldessari and Kusama) both to show off the absurdity of the messages, as well as to drill in the messages, emphasizing them.

Most of these messages have come from Instagram and while I do not invite such behaviour I get a sense of pleasure from playing along with these men who are thinking only with their head (and not the one on their shoulders). For example, one message of "How old are you?" I responded with "13 years old" even though my page shows that I am 18+. It is amusing to see how fast some backtrack from their sexual advances to instant regret, perhaps I hope that the shock of jumping in the deep end of instant sexual themes will make them think before doing it again - although I doubt that highly. I also respond with phrases such as "you cannot afford me", "I am too expensive for you", "I am not interested in your shrimp/tiny/pathetic nub you call a penis". While I can admit it is unsavoury, I feel it's only right after an unsolicited dick pic. I also only do this when I feel confident in myself and my autonomy. It gives me a sense of "bad bitch" powerful energy and control, by not submitting to the offensive that they might be after. The senders seem to always want a reaction, but not the one I give them. 9 out of 10 times I am able to do this, although when the message is too forceful or disgusting I am very liberal with the block button. Other artists such as Betty Tompkins, Reba Maybury, Valie Export and Annie Sprinkle also use the element of dry humour in their work, perhaps to charge their own confidence as well as an exacerbated sigh of having to deal with the effects of a patriarchal sexist society.  

Ideally, this video should be viewed on Instagram using a mobile phone as the layout and scrolling format is used to mimic the continuous and second nature act of mindless scrolling. Not quite paying attention to the messages, yet conscious enough to realise the messages are unwanted and unsolicited.  I chose this image inparticular for the background image because I look particularly young (Although I am over 18), which adds an uneasy feeling when compared to the frankness of the text flashing across the screen. It plays with the idea of  content for certain conversations, although regardless of that, consent and manners are always expected and truthfully there isn't an excuse for sending such things. 

This work brings up the lines between an online persona, alter egos and the real person. Since the internet is almost a second way of life, it means nothing to create a persona and comment and view peoples pages, because they're nothing more than a page of pixels. Online the person, both the sender and the receiver is not real, which makes people think that consequences don't matter.   Although it seems like this is about to change as cyber-flashing is (when a person is sent an unsolicited sexual image on their mobile device by an unknown person online through social media, messaging or even airdropping) is soon to become an offence. Currently, there is no law that addresses cyber-flashing in England and Wales, despite the act being made illegal in Scotland around 12 years ago. The move intends to reflect penalties for indecent exposure in public, cyber-flashing is set to be included in the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Explaining the offence of indecent exposure, Sean Caulfield, criminal solicitor at Hodge Jones & Allen, told MailOnline: "The prosecution would need to prove someone intended to expose their genitals, and that they did so intending to cause alarm and distress. It can apply to anyone, whether the victim is a stranger or someone they know."

MdS was primarily influenced by works of erotic literature and the descriptions of women (that are somehow acceptable outside the consent and context of a book). In particular the works of de Sade. His name is at the origin of the term sadism, that is, the pleasure of causing pain and suffering, an attitude that emerges from his novels, focused on the description of transgressive and perverse sexual behaviours, those that will be called precisely "sadistic", as well as on scenes of explicit violence and on the philosophical themes of the search for pleasure, consisting in satisfying natural instincts (in Sade often deriving from the exercise of cruelty for sexual purposes), atheism and rejection of any form of constituted authority. This authority is easy to escape from while online, you can't be seen, you can use a fake name, you can blend it, to put it frankly you are a fly on the wall of the world wide web. Although I agree with the idea of being free and unashamed to pursue your desires and needs, consent and laws cannot be ignored. During his life, on the other hand, de Sade was accused (with the consent of his family, especially his mother-in-law) of various crimes, such as practices of sexual violence, sodomy, attempts at poisoning and immoral conduct. 

MdS is my attempt to regain power from these comments, while they do not offend me, as I see them as simply sad and pathetic, after a while, they start to affect me since my pictures of Instagram are all bust format shots and do not show off my body so I don't understand what initiates these comments. That being said, even if I were to show off my entire body, that would not be an invitation for such rudeness. In the cosplay community, which fuels most of my Instagram, there is a saying that "cosplay isn't consent" and I feel that relies upon a number of situations for both men and women. Low skirts, exposed breasts, exposed six-pack or even a hint of muscle under a shirt is not an invitation. It is almost the norm online to see such comments on posts that have nothing to do with "thirst traps", almost normalized in internet culture. Although when moved to direct messages there is a new context to the message and it doesn't become part of an internet joke it is directed focuses on the person as a subject of desire not just an image of coloured pixels.