The Window Sex Project: Recap, Good Work, Moving Forward

Friday night we premiered The Window Sex Project, and I can not express in words how successful the event was. From the moment our guests entered the space to see the gallery of painted and live works, to the performance itself in which the dancers had me shouting and crying up in the balcony, to the post-performance discussion which brought together divergent opinions and heated debate, it really was an out of this world event. Click below for more photos. 

Cast and Creator of The Window Sex Project

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Saturday morning my dad called me from his hotel room in Queens.

[When I was young,] I never talked to women on the street because that wasn't my style, but I ran with the best of them. And now... I'm so embarrassed that I never said anything to those guys to stop them.

I hadn't expected this response from my father who has supported me throughout this process, though I wasn't always sure that he understood what I was doing and why I was doing. Yet, the performance really made him think about the issue from the other side and consider his actions, non-actions and what he could do to further the work. His understanding of both the problems and solutions after being a witness and participant in The Window Sex Project is a testament to the power of dance (and art in general) as a tool of activism. The multidisciplinary performance event made men and women deeply consider these issues of harassment, public space and perception and led to fruitful conversation. I have no doubt, that each person left the theater that night and went home and discussed the work further, multiplying its reach.

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Professor L'Heureux Dumi Lewis echoed my father's sentiments in his recent post on Uptown Notes/Ebony Magazine: Interrupt Street Harassment. He begins:

I remember growing up and learning how to “holler” at girls. I’ll be honest, I’ve never found it particularly natural to stand in a group of other guys and whistle, catcall, or bark compliments to women, but somehow it was supposed to be a rite of passage. In my younger days, I thought of street harassment as bad, but shrugged it off a bit because there were a lot of worse things that I could do toward women and since I didn’t catcall, I wasn’t really an offender. However, each day I see greater connections between street harassment and violence against women.

I look forward to continuing this conversation about how we can interrupt and further affect change against this cultural practice. Professor Lewis will be moderating our post performance discussion at our next performance of The Window Sex Project:

Monday, April 2, 6:30pm

 Barnard College, The Diana Event Oval

This will be the last time that the show will be seen in its entirety with this cast and this particular momentum coming off of International Anti-Street Harassment Week. DO NOT MISS OUT! 

The event is free and open to the public, and seating is on first come, first serve basis.