Image: Christopher Chamberlain
What would it take for you to take off all of your clothes and stand on stage in front of a bunch of strangers? It takes a lot more than you may think.
My job is one where I facilitate such acts on a regular basis. I host events where models will pose for either the camera or the canvas, but the poses are not what you’d find in a typical art school classroom. I began organizing these events to fulfill my own needs that weren’t being met, specifically mixing sex with art. And so began The Keyhole Sessions. As I usually describe it: our models come with attitude and our artists without inhibition.
What you’ll find on our stage are models in various states of debaucherous play, often tied up in rope or other forms of restraint, with sex toys making the occasional cameo. Our events are not for the prudish. They’re for people who are open to new experiences and aren’t afraid of things or spaces that are sexually charged. This is not to say our events are anything like an orgy (though I have nothing against orgies). I like to think that our events sit on the threshold of open sexuality, acting as the few first steps that someone wants to take before fully entering the scene. There are events in the city that will take you further should you want to investigate; we’re simply the friendly gateway toward many paths.
Just as I make our events comfortable for our visiting artists, I like to do the same for our models. It takes a lot of chutzpah to step on stage without any clothes, and my models have more than the average. I’ve posed many a time, knowing that not only do I have to be nude, but I also have to be a performer. We like to entice you and tease you, and make you comfortable enough to drop your guard. We invite you to draw our nipples and our pussies, and grant you the honour to specifically pay close attention to those things, ensuring you get them just right. At least, based on your interpretation.
In exuding this sexuality, we’re letting you know that we want you to look, but also want you to respect what we do. We’re on stage because we’re proud of who we are. We do it because we love the art, because some of us are true exhibitionists, because we want to push our own limits or help others push theirs. We do it as a Fuck you to those times when some of us weren’t as comfortable in our own skins, or as a Hurrah to punctuate that some of us always have been.
We also do it to challenge ourselves physically. To the untrained observer, posing in a simple standing position looks relatively easy. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. Whether we’re standing straight up with weight planted firmly on both feet or we’re bent over sideways, hovering over another body with our neck twisted and our weight all on one wrist, the stress can be equally as painful. We often wake up the next morning with welts, bruises, and sore limbs. Mind you, we’re the types who find that pain rather delicious, so don’t feel too badly for us.
I’ve heard many a criticism that what we do is nothing but “drawn porn.” But what exactly is the problem with that? What is wrong with looking at something that many people would view as too personal, too private, or too crude? We all get off in different ways, and drawing the erotic is just another outlet. As an artist, you are perfectly welcome to keep it at that level of rawness, or you can take it to the next one, finding beauty in the nude figure, the intricacies of lines, shadows and curves as things to be admired, not reviled or exploited.
Some people will say that flaunting our nude bodies isn’t an act of empowerment, that it’s merely catering to misogynist male gaze. But that’s horseshit. As nude models, we do it for ourselves as much as we do it for others. There’s nothing wrong with people taking pleasure in what we offer. If we want to make a statement against repression or we want you to concentrate on making a charcoal masterpiece of our calf muscles or we want to make your dick hard or pussy wet, our bodies can do those things all at the same time, and it’s all perfectly legitimate, consensual, and healthy. We choose to step on that stage, and the artists choose to draw us.
While it can at times be easy to say “fuck you” to people who don’t approve of what we do, it’s nowhere near as easy to say that to people we consider friends and family. It’s difficult to reconcile what we do as extensions of who we truly are with their condescension and disapproval. Some of us have to keep our true selves in the dark to avoid these ramifications from those whom we love, or who employ us. Some of us have experienced the wrath of disapproving parents and friends, no matter how much we explain why we do what we do. So no, it’s not easy to take off your clothes to make a statement. It requires physical, emotional, and psychological strengths that have to align in order to do so.
I’ve got my own reasons to pose without my clothes on. My body means a lot of things, none of which I’m ashamed. It plays a myriad of roles for me. Other than the obvious as a carrier of my brain and soul, it’s a personal pleasure centre, eye candy, political statement, and a warm place to land. I’m all of these things for different people and I dig it.
So when I show off my nude body, I’m showing that I’m proud of these things, as are all the models who have graced my stage. Not all of my models are or need to be professional performers. They pose for our artists to fulfill varying needs; some to add to an already highly sexual lifestyle, some to supplement what they don’t have available to them in their everyday lives, some as a challenge to themselves. Some of us have grown up in liberal-minded homes, surrounded by art, while some of us have been raised to regard sexuality as something to be cloaked in shadow, a shameful act that need no discussion. Whatever it is that implores us to pose, it comes with courage and confidence that is apparent once the lights turn on, and it’s something that is, in every original sense of the word, awesome.
So whether it’s in spite of or because of our surroundings, we make a conscious decision to step on that stage. And once we’re on it, under the heat of the lights, with the music beating through us and the sound of pencils scratching on paper, all the bullshit that’s associated with why we’re up there dissipates, replaced by the pure pleasure of liberation, and that feeling is art in itself.
____
Got a question about sex in art, relationships, parenting? Send Sonya a note at dearmadame@torontostandard.com. Anonymity assured.
Sonya JF Barnett, also known as “The Madame,” is the founder of an erotic arts community called The Keyhole Sessions and the co-founder of SlutWalk Toronto. Follow her on Twitter @KeyholeSessions.
For more, follow us on Twitter @TorontoStandard and subscribe to our newsletter.
