Talk: Sex Work e Linguaggi Performativi

Moderator: Ilenia Caleo, performer, researcher, activist

Host * (in alphabetical order):

Chiara Caterina, artist and filmmaker; she is interested in the languages of documentary and experimental cinema. Her films are presented in various national and international festivals.

Jana, sexworker, activist, artist, performer and actress.

Francesco Marilungo, performer and choreographer. In his works he uses the body as the bearer of the dual iconic / narrative value to investigate the archetypal figures of the collective unconscious and the “uncanny”.

Giulia Selmi, sociologist, works at the Department of Human Sciences of the University of Verona where she is a member of the Politesse research center – theories and politics of sexuality. For many years she has been involved in sex work and prostitution and is part of the GRIPS-Italian Research Group on Prostitution and Sexual Work which brings together studios * and social operators * that deal with sex worlds and markets. Among her publications on the subject: Sex work, the becoming work of sexuality, Bebert, 2016.

Giulia Zollino, anthropologist, sex educator, street worker. She takes care of creating sexuality education paths and on instagram she actively disseminates about sex work, breaking down bias, prejudices and stereotypes. She recently published Sex Work is work, Eris Edizioni, 2021.

the talk is part of a project carried out within Marche Palcoscenico Aperto. I mestieri dello spettacolo non si fermano promosso da Regione Marche / Assessorato alla Cultura e AMAT

Prostitution is a much more complex phenomenon than the stereotypes with which it is usually represented; the tendency is to polarize public discourse and the collective imagination using reductive schemes that see the prostitute as a victim and the client as an executioner or who consider sex work ‘a job like any other’ without taking into account the level of stigmatization and criminalization in which it is practiced.

It is actually a much more complex relationship between subjects that concerns sexuality, economic relations, gender models, and which therefore raises questions about power. A phenomenon rich in nuances and so complex to the point that the very words to be used are the subject of discussion.

This difficulty of expression in verbal language is even more evident in artistic language which, while making use of the method of metaphor and abstraction, is still a much less articulated code. In the talk ‘SEX WORK AND PERFORMATIVE LANGUAGES’ we will try to tackle this problem: how to talk about sexwork in/through performing arts.