2020.3 Pleasure as _______
What would your coming of age look like without fear of violation upon the body?
What would your pleasure and power look like without shame?
Consider this quote from the introduction of ‘Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape’ edited by Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti. “The world we envision is one in which genuine pleasure is celebrated—not feared, controlled, or commodified. Where the only consent that matters is the kind that’s given freely and enthusiastically. Where each person’s body, regardless of gender, is theirs to do with whatever pleases them—and to keep safe from whatever doesn’t. It’s a world that’s much harder to reach than it is to see, but that’s not stopping us from trying, and we truly hope you’ll join us.”
Gabrielle Redding
Gabrielle is in the Master in Design Studies program with a concentration in Risk and Resilience, prior to the GSD she obtained a Bachelor of Architecture. Her current work is focused on gender-inclusive and feminist design, particularly how certain spaces allow for a higher risk of sexual and gender-based violence and harassment. Interests lie in social-spatial planning and redefining the responsibility that designers and architects have in forming nonviolent environments, with an aim to understand the link between practice and public safety.
“What’s your pleasure?” features interviews question- ing how people access hope and joy amid climate grief, Trumpism, and trauma. Where do we find joy and the ability to be present despite a societal expectation that suffering is inherent to justice work and success? In order to enact just, pluralistic, and equitable futures we need hope, empathy, and love. This project is inspired by Adrienne Maree Brown’s latest book Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good. Brown’s book and subsequently this piece seek to center pleasure as a liberatory practice and act of resistance. Many thanks to the 20+ interviewees who shared their stories. The following are featured: Nadia Asfour | Pancho Brown | Aisha Densmore-Bey | Erika Eitland | Qian Guo | Jing Hai | Linda Just | Emma Phillips | Nevena Pilipovic-Wengler | Alex Sanyal | Joel Seidner | Manasi Sharma | Shikun Zhu
Tessa Crespo
Through her graduate research, Tessa explores themes of agency and victimhood as they relate to collective trauma and the adaptability of culture in today’s era of risk and migration. She is interested in epistemologies that interrogate the politics of knowledge production through reimagining the hegemonic constructs of territory and ownership. Through a healing justice lens, she investigates storytelling and its powerful implications for empathy and conflict transformation. Prior to attending the GSD, Tessa worked as an architectural designer at Olson Kundig in Seattle, WA, where she specialized in exhibit design and cultural projects.
