www.echo.net.au/soap-box
MANDY NOLAN’S
SOAPBOX
HOW I STOPPED WORRYING AND LEARNED TO LOVE THE C BOMB How do you feel about the C word? Frankly I hate that I can’t say ‘can’t’ here. Like it’s too hideous to be said out loud. For some people, even saying ‘the C word’ without saying the actual C word is as risky as they get. They’ll say ‘I can tolerate anything except the C word’ because apparently it’s too offensive. I find that offensive. Although you have to admire a word with that kind of power, It’s taboo. It never goes unnoticed. It packs a punch. It’s a lot more impactful than ‘dick’ or ‘cock’ – they barely raise an eyebrow. The magic C has lost none of her fierceness. She can start a fight. She can close a party. She can have you thrown off stage. She can even have you thrown off Facebook – Mr Zuckerberg doesn’t like it. Facebook is like some uptight school principal who suspends you for use of the C bomb as an offence against public decency. Meanwhile, you can post images of violence, sexist memes, and right wing conspiratorial propaganda – but no, not the C. I reclaim it. Although I’m not quite saying it out loud here. Because I can’t say can’t. I like it as a word for my anatomy. It’s short, and not up itself. In fact, it has a stinging brutality that I like. It’s not as silly as ‘twat’. I don’t have a twat. A twat doesn’t convey the majesty. A twat is something you have at bingo, or when you’re selling raffle tickets; ‘Watch it Beryl! You just hit me in the twat with the meat tray.’ A twat is friendly. A twat does a lot of volunteering. Twats are people pleasers. Women called Joyce have twats. And as for ‘vagina’ – I always feel weird saying vagina. It’s too proper and creepy. Someone once asked me ‘Can I touch your vagina?’ I instantly said ‘No’ because it was Santa, and we were in a shopping centre. A vagina is something you show the doctor, even if they don’t ask. It’s medical. I can’t imagine going to the doctor and saying ‘I’m just here for you to check my C’. I’d like to. Just to see them squirm. Vagina isn’t even the right word, I think vulva is probably more accurate, but it just makes me cringe. Vulva is the creepiest of all. I bet a man made up the word vulva. He said, ‘How can I make women ashamed of their C’s? Let’s call it a vulva’. But I can say vulva and not get banned on social media. I could wear a T–shirt that said ‘You stupid vulva’ and I’d be able to sit in the front row at church. Then there’s ‘yoni’. I couldn’t use that word with a straight face. It sounds like a singer. I’ve written about the yoni before – it’s far too spiritual for me. A yoni would complain a lot I reckon. Never satisfied. And ‘pussy’ – pussy is the most ridiculous word I’ve heard for a C! It’s strictly for porn. And it’s something hetero men say. I always find it weird when I hear women talk about ‘my pussy’ like it’s something they are comfortable with. I couldn’t say to my young daughter ‘I hope you’ve washed your pussy’. Too Epstein. When you give an animal human features it’s called anthropomorphising. When you do the reverse, it’s called zoomorphism. Stop zoomorphising my C! It’s not a pussy, or a beaver. I once did a drawing of the Virgin Mary – I realised the kneeling figure and all the folds looked a lot like the holy mother – and I’m talking about the one between our legs. It occurred to me that the space of our fertility, that which has caused centuries of fear and suspicion and oppression has always had a kind of mysticism; the place of pleasure, and pain, and the miracle of life. So I called the drawing of the kneeling virgin the ‘Insatiable C’. C is a word that disrupts – it still makes people uncomfortable. Colloquial terms for genitalia have always been used as derision – and while I avoid using the C word because of an element of what I find sacred, I wonder, when the time comes that all these words have the same benign level of offence if we will have truly achieved gender equity? I guess I’ll just sit on my can’t and wait.
Issue# 35.20 October 28– November 3, 2020 Editor: Mandy Nolan Editorial/gigs: gigs@echo.net.au Copy deadline: 5pm each Friday Advertising: adcopy@echo.net.au P: 02 6684 1777 W: echo.net.au/entertainment
SEVEN E N T E R T A I N M E N T
COUNTRY WITCHES BRING IN BELTANE Join the Country Witches Association to celebrate Bealtaine, (Beltane) the real pagan festival that should be celebrated in the Southern Hemisphere on 31 October instead of Halloween! Bealtaine is a fire and fertility festival that marks the transition of seasons and the arrival of summer and the riches that season brings. This is when the veil is thinnest between the spirit and human worlds and hence the perfect date for witches in all hemispheres to gather and mark their intentions for the coming year. Fires are lit as a way of clearing the air, recharging the Earth and planting hope for a fruitful season ahead. With 2020 being the year the world was in the grip of a pandemic we have never needed a more hopeful reason to gather than Bealtaine, and plant some potent hope – together! Singer–songwriter, and founding witch, Áine Tyrrell grew up sitting around Bealtaine bonfires on the West Coast of Ireland and she is looking forward to sharing her witchy Irish traditions with the Southern Hemisphere witches! Mandy Nolan joins forces with Áine as the two present their hugely popular Country Witches show for the first time at the gorgeous Regent Theatre, in Murwillumbah. Drawing down on the themes and traditions of Bealtaine, these two bring a very different version of the CWA, mixing genres to bring dangerous dialogues and uncomfortable collaborations to the boil! Áine and Mandy stir the political pot, spin a yarn, tell a joke and have a damn good time. The witches ask you to mark the moment by wearing your sassiest and most fertile black! While the Saturday night is sold out there are still tickets for Sunday at 11am! Tix $40 on trybooking. com/BLUFR. Or ainetyrrell.com
ALOHA! IT’S CLELIA Mullumbimby’s own country music queen, Clelia Adams teams up with Aloha Baby to explore the origins of the steel guitar and its migration from the Hawaiian Islands to become a mainstay sound of Country and Western music. Clelia and Paul Agar, steel guitarist from local Hawaiian music trio Aloha Baby, will share their knowledge of the history of these two musical genres in a one hour musicological concert full of fascinating stories, beautiful instrumentals and country songs we all know and love.
GIVIN A BUCKLEYS! After their stunning debut live performance, Daydream with the Buckleys Live from Byron Bay was broadcast globally, their World Virtual Tour with Live Nation, reached over 4.5 million peeps. Now you can experience the skyrocketing brilliance of The Buckleys when they perform live in concert as part of the Great Southern Nights Initiative. Sarah Buckley speaks of the show; ‘We can’t wait to bring our live show to our home region and to start rebuilding the strong, resilient, and ever so important live music industry that provides us all with these memory making, spirit lifting concerts: the crews, venues, musicians, and all the behind-the-scenes workers in all parts of the industry [who] have had it extremely tough this year.’ Country, Pop, Americana and Indie, Daydream is a sun-kissed collection of music that embodies the personalities and spirit of the Buckley siblings – Sarah (20), Molly (17) and Lachlan (19). Becoming a formidable force in the US recently, The Buckleys have been establishing themselves as a young, dynamic act to watch. Friday 6 Nov at The Byron Theatre, Saturday 14 Nov at the Australian Hotel in Ballina, and Saturday 21 Nov at the Byron YAC.
BYRON WRITERS FESTIVAL RETURNS WITH TRENT DALTON Byron Writers Festival has announced a series of three live events, starting at Byron Theatre on Tuesday 17 November, with Trent Dalton, the award-winning, bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe, who returns with one of the most anticipated novels of 2020. All Our Shimmering Skies is an epic odyssey of true love and grave danger, of darkness and light, of bones and blue skies. It is a love letter to Australia and an ode to the art of looking up. Trent Dalton will be in conversation with local author, Zacharey Jane. The event will also include a short performance from local musician Bobby Alu. Tickets are on sale now via byronwritersfestival.com/whats-on. For those unable to make it to the live event, it will be streamed on-demand for a limited time the following day.
PRESENTED BY
Book your seat now for a one-hour-plus show of engaging entertainment with humour and musical panache, this Sunday morning. Tickets are $15 per person. Available from https://www.mullumexservices.com.au/what-s-on. Limited capacity. 11am at the Mullum Ex-Services Club.
DAYDREAM IN BYRON BAY
MATT COLLINS FROM WHARVES
FRIDAY 6TH NOVEMBER 2020 DOORS OPEN 7.00PM SHOWTIME 7.30PM THE BYRON THEATRE, 69 JONSON ST, BYRON BAY
BOOK ONLINE AT BYRONCENTRE.COM.AU
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