Sissy (2018)
A Study Room Guide on effeminacy, queer visibility and social violence by Nando Messias
“This Study Room Guide outlines the theoretical and practical research I have developed throughout the creation of my Sissy series, which includes a trilogy—Sissy! (2008), The Sissy’s Progress (2015) and Shoot the Sissy (2016)—and an epilogue, Death and the Sissy (2017). In writing it, I have practised wearing the two hats of my life—the artist and the paraacademic—simultaneously. Two hats in one go: a rather glorious image, if you ask me.
Writing has always been central to my artistic practice. I have written essays that function as companions to each of my Sissy performances. This Study Room Guide marks, in turn, the beginning of my journey post-Sissy. This character, which I have recently buried, has been the subject of four live performances, a doctoral thesis, three publications (plus a fourth on the way), tours, workshops, talks, lectures, readings and seminars. The sources that make up the Guide are therefore a map with which to navigate the construction and the destruction of Sissy. Endings are always new beginnings and looking back has allowed me a chance to gather my thoughts before turning around to move forward. I hope the reader finds this record helpful too.
Sissy: an effeminate man a male-bodied individual with marked effeminate gender traits ‘effeminate’ rather than ‘feminine’ un-masculine, approximating femininity and therefore failing at both genders a defiant, resilient and visibly queer member of a minority-within-a-minority group a person who proudly embraces their misalignment, resolutely remains unaligned, exaggerates the gesture, piles on the makeup, shakes their hips wildly when walking (preferably in towering heels), transforming what others see as a ‘mistake’ into their most powerful political statement: my body is my weapon”
Banner image credit:
Death and the Sissy, Nando Messias. Image by Holly Revell.
Part of Study Room Guides
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