Mehdi-Georges Lahlou
About gender behaviours.
Summary:
I - Questions about gestural codes:
a) Introduction,
b) A gendered body,
c) Body still Muslim,
II - Integration of a “gendered body” in a Muslim society:
a) Introduction,
b) A “gendered body” against the established laws,
c) A body in action,
d) An “utopian body”,
I - Questions about gestural codes:
a) Introduction:
The question of the body is very important in my artwork, both a real body, especially as in my work performance, but also a body by the idea. Although it is generally not represented (no included performance work), the body is a main source of my inspiration.
I'd like to talk about some gestural codes, which are obviously different according to different societies, and thus impose different languages of the body.
My artistic work is often autobiographical, it's why, I will take, for bases of the research, the two environments that where been given to me. Which are France (European countries and predominantly Catholic) and Morocco (North Africa and Muslim).
I speak more about an urban environment, as a city like Casablanca in Morocco, because in Morocco, gestural codes can be at the opposite between urban and rural environment.
I will try to take myself as the main topic to begin this research.
Trying to explain, finally why my body and my attitudes are different depending on the social space where I am, and different depending on the culture, and, according to the codes imposed by the societies.
I'll introduce myself quickly, allowing you to better understand the topic.
I have a Spanish mother, living in France, Bretagne, and Moroccan father, living in Casablanca.
European educated, it's only at the age of eight years that I knew for my physical Moroccan part.
At this age, I started to live, for seven years, in Morocco, in a new family, a new culture, new codes, in the difference...
In this environment, where I started “to build/ to become/ to create” myself (France), the body had, almost, all the permissions; the nudity was not a great taboo. In my familial cocoon, there were no significant differences between the sexes.
My body was already became a "gendered body" ***. A "gendered body", by definition, is much more than a biological body, but also a "social body". The "gendered body" is not the naming of a body by female or masculine appearances. It's different to call a body masculine or feminine. The biological body is changed by the mismatch with the standard/norm.
This is not only a question of sexuality, or sexual orientation, but also, more a question on the Identity of Being.
But, it also, with the beginning of a questioning on my own sexuality, that my body has became a “gendered body”.
The attitudes, gestures and behaviour of a person can directly lead to a questioning of his gender, and therefore, of the complete identity of the individual.
But here is more on certain gestural codes, which I will dwell on, more than on some kinds of gender studies, which are already quite extensive in this regard.
I started dancing when I was very young, and it is the dance, I suppose, that allowed me to take a full consciousness of my body, and therefore, consciousness of the gestures that my body emits.
So I quickly noticed a difference in attitude and behaviour of the body and more, of my own body, in a new/different society (Morocco). My body adapted to Europe, was henceforth unsuitable there. The adapting to this new environment was indeed past by a certain change in attitude and body language.
It's in a kind of gestural restraint that my gestural codes were amended, but I feel still free, because I always control my body and my behaviour.
I have therefore, distinguished, depending on the given environments, two kinds of body, for questioning the gestures:
-A gendered body (Europe, France).
-A body still Muslim (Morocco).
*** (Like many words, and especially in gender studies, there is no real translation for "corps genré” in English, but the closest translation, to me, would be "gendered body”. That is why I will use this word in the text.)
b) A gendered body:
The “gendered body ", as explained earlier, is essentially European / Westerner.
A kind of generalized detachment of the religion has allowed a true emancipation of the European body. That means, that the religious codes imposed on the body are lower, allowing to liberalization on the issues of sexuality.
The search for the purity of the soul and body is not really even the most important.
What is training, among other, from 1968, the commencement of sexual and moral liberation of the individuals. The taboo of virginity women, the links between love and sexuality, the quest for sexual pleasure without the risk of motherhood are challenged.
From 1968, the sexual expectations of the individuals are declared and had come to light.
A willingness of young people for the right to sex education, to effective contraception and a sex life for young girls, is issued/asked. During this period, young people do not hesitate to submit their sexual problems, passengers or sustainable (in the radio for example). Facts still quite unimaginable in Morocco, however, there is a great evolution about the mores, but definitely too conservative religiously, to allow, as fast and probably, same emancipation, of the individuals.
From 68, by the feminists, a radical questioning of gender norms is established. Their projects of Reappropriation of the body by women themselves, had led the critique of the mechanisms of male power. The politicization of the private life induces very quickly, an analysis of gender relations in terms of domination. , Alienation, oppression
Feminists of the 1970s innovate by the centrality that they attach to the body and sexuality, in their criticism, which tends to deconstruct shaping the female body by the patriarchy. The deconstruction focuses on reinvestment of the body through many "women's words". This research about body language inspired many literary, plastic, aesthetic.
We know well the artworks, for France, of some artists such as Orlan, Gina Pane, Niki de Saint Phalle… and even the artworks of some men, such as Michel Journiac.
All these actions, coupled with the denunciation of violence and the claiming of an abortion right, bind a process of profound reforms in the politics of bodies.
All this for explain the possibility, today, of a "gendered body" in my Western / French part, thanks to this body history, which is less important, at least differently, in Morocco.
So, getting back to my own "gendered body", my gestural codes are adapted to my way of thinking and to the society where I am. I can move as a women, move as a men or otherwise in a westerner environment. The referential gestural codes, being deconstructed, no real adaptation is possible.
I believe that in societies of "gendered body", there is an obligation to the difference of body and appearance, is something that will enable their integration. But, of course, the mode tends to harmonize and of the likeness of the individuals.
I have the impression of the contrary, in a Muslim country, like Morocco, where there is a sort of quest of the same model, a common model that could stick to the religious and the Muslim ethics.
c) A body still Muslim:
Although Morocco has well begun its development in many areas, as in art, advertising, and especially in the theatre, but the question of the body and its sexuality remains a taboo topic.
Indeed, Morocco is still a religious and conservative society. Islam dictates always the gestural codes. However, this society must move forward with the changes in political and social, in human rights and the recognition of Women, simultaneously with the heavy burden of the religion.
The voting rights for women is now possible, the veil is not an obligation but a choice (actually, a woman, and even, a young women, will be better considered if she use the veil). The work of women in positions originally said for men is now recognized.
But it is true that they are issues of political and social order, which are slowly being resolved. The questions directly about sex, are not really tolerated, much less questions about female sexuality, and her virginity (as, still, a young bride has yet to prove her virginity in her first marriage). And though there is some homosexuality, the gender issue is one of the greatest taboo (remember that all homosexuality and all deviant sexualities and practices are condemned).
These issues are taboo, because it would be the bases of the pursuit/search of the happiness of the soul and the purity, who will be challenged.
Compared to 68, referred earlier for the case of "gendered body" in western society, there is a May 68 in Morocco.
There were workers and student strikes, claimant reforms, events who were successful.
Some influences with bands like Nass El Ghiwane. Their lyrics were poetic and politically committed that reflecting the malaise/faintness of young Moroccans from the days when there was no expression freedom.
But it was a rebellion in political and social reforms, about labour and education. There was not simultaneously, as in Europe, a great questioning about sexuality.
There have been, good on, many Moroccan students in France during the “sixty-eighters” time. But many of those who returned to Morocco had no influenced on questions of sexuality, because they were "entered in order", with often arranged marriages, children, and return to religion.
So getting back to my body, it is true that my body is no longer a "gendered body" when I am in Morocco. This body is no longer adequate/admitted. My gestures and behavioural codes are affected. I assimilate me with, a male models imposed, to be integrated. My behaviour with the individuals is different. It enters in a code of male stereotypes, but, I stay in the control of my movement, and, actually leaving the possibility for a "gendered body" to appear.
And perhaps that is a part of my artwork, which would introduce a "gendered body" in this Muslim society, and find the way to do that.
II – Integration of a “gendered body” in a Muslim society:
a) Introduction:
The next question will consider the existence of a “gendered body”, in fact my body, in a Muslim society as the Morocco.
The questions will be; Why an integration of a “gendered body is necessary”?, How integrate this "gendered body" only by ideas and proposal, for this research?.
I will try to imagine and considerate it by different approaches:
- A “gendered body” against the established laws, going against the Moeurs and Muslim ethics.
- A body in action, with actions as performances, which will permit a progressive integration of this “gendered body” in this society.
- And finally, a body who will be an “utopian body”, bringing to a society, consequently, utopian itself.
b) A “gendered body” against the established laws:
The simplest and most dangerous choice is finally to live a "gendered body", where you are, but considering the possibility of non-integration of his body. The "gendered body" will be a body outside of standards and even against the Muslim laws. For, indeed, this body will, among other things, questioning sexuality.
I would remember also, that sexuality is the most taboo subject in Muslim ideologies today following criticism of Islam. But the "gendered body" is not a question of homosexuality, if I take as an example, my own body. Indeed, this sexual position is also the basis of my "gendered body", and furthermore, a "gendered body" today in Morocco, for example, can not be that finally a body, at the beginning, homosexual, for lack of awareness and especially of gender studies, which also permitted the emergence of multiple and different "gendered bodies".
Homosexuality in Morocco is fairly common, but we do not talk about it. It is an underground sexuality, frowned upon and punishable. It is still considered illegal under Article 489 of the Moroccan Penal Code, which condemns "anyone who commits a lewd act against nature or with a person of the same sex can be punished by a period of 6 months to 3 years imprisonment and a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 dirhams (20 to 100 euros).
I would return over the scandal, which took place in 2007 in Ksar el Kebir, a small town in northern Morocco. Indeed, I would like to talk about this event, because, it could be as well a performance done by myself. And it is a performance that I wanted to do, but a simple man, not an artist, has suffered the consequences.
Indeed, in 2007, a couple of Moroccan homosexuals (Fouad and Fouad) have realized them fantasy, "get married" in a very traditional way. The ceremony is held in the image of a true one. None ritual is forgotten, animation "gnaoua" (orchestra), cook, makeup artist, Muslims songs, milk, dates ... and furthermore, one of the two grooms wanted also weared the traditional dress of a married woman. The wedding took place in a building normaly reserved for celebrations of traditional marriages. The party hasn't gone unnoticed in the neighborhood.
The morning after the wedding, the rumor circulate that it would be a homosexual marriage, and videos recorded by a guest, circulate on YouTube. A real popular indignation takes shape. Thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of Ksar el-Kebir, demanding "justice, penalties and remedies," Fouad's house is attacked, imams are engaged in incendiary sermons ... The city is on the verge of riot. On 21 November a petition was addressed to the Attorney General of the city and called for "opening a formal investigation into the celebration of a homosexual marriage." The protagonists of the festival are all arrested.