I got an email a few weeks ago about a workshop that was being put on at Live Theatre for youth theater members of the female variety. All we were told was that ‘ theater maker Lizi Patch’ was holding a specialist, issue based workshop and that we would be discussing and sharing our views on internet pornography. As you can imagine, I was tentative at first and it was something I really had to consider before accepting or declining the invitation. I mean, did I even have an opinion on porn? If I did, would I actually want to talk about it? What would I say? What would the other girls say? Most of all, what would Lizi think. The more I thought about those questions, the more I realised that they were the whole point. I was worried about talking publicly about pornography: put off by the stigmatism it owns and worried that I might actually have something to say about it. Epiphany over, invitation accepted. Then to figure out what my opinion was… Because quite honestly, I’d never really given it much thought. Speaking with the whole truth and nothing but the truth (though Lizi might not believe me), I have never purposefully watched porn. And my just-turned-teenage self did not appreciate stumbling upon X rated after 11pm tv when she was looking for a film to watch before going to sleep. I was lucky in comparison to Lizi’s son who after succumbing to peer pressure was brought face-to-face with brutal fetish-porn aged only 11. According to him, ending his childhood.
Opinions formulated and natural self-confidence restored, I stopped thinking about what other people might think and headed off to the workshop, note to self: I think too much. We met Lizi who is a wonderfully energetic and to-the-point woman, providing us with the exact atmosphere we needed to be able to speak freely about the topic and enjoy doing it. Lizi also introduced us to her two young co-actors of Punching The Sky, the play she is writing about what happened to her son and what affect it has had on their lives. Two very short hours later we’d hit so many taboo subjects on the head it almost felt like a therapy session: discussion is so important.
Pornography wasn’t the only thing on the agenda though, we spent a lot of time talking about sex education in schools, people’s perceptions of themselves and others, including self esteem, self image and peer pressure. For instance, it was almost common knowledge in my old high school who the first people were to lose their virginity – what impact did that have on the rest of us? Another girl spoke of how sterile and scientific sex education classes were in her school – is this how young people should be taught about sex? Do young people watch porn to learn more about sex, or just for pure pleasure? And most importantly, is pornography something that should be introduced to the school curriculum? And I certainly do not mean should someone in a suit pick some suitable porn and show it to the kids, I mean should sex education teachers discuss the realities, pros and cons of porn with young adolescents? Some people might say this is corrupting young minds and telling them things they don’t need to know. But I ask you; would you rather a qualified teacher spoke to your children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and cousins about pornography or would you rather they were sent a link to a hardcore porn video by a so called ‘peer’ and then have to deal with the consequences? Lots of questions, thousands of answers. It is so hard to choose what is right in a world where information is so readily available at anyone’s fingertips – who is able to navigate a computer that is. But in this day and age, there are very few who can’t.
In order to try and cope with what her son had confided in her, Lizi wrote a blog post that you can read here:
How the ubiquity of internet porn and smartphones means that younger and younger children are accessing brutal porn.
Reading it will give you a far better insight than me trying to re-tell the story.
Lizi was kind enough to invite us all to watch the scratch version of Punching The Sky in Live’s Studio Theatre last night which was a private showing with a discussion session afterwards (continued into the bar next door, of course).
The concept, staging and of course the story all have the potential to be something really hard hitting, emotional, informative and searching with the ability to make change, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.
Obviously it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t meant to be, but I was taken on a journey and got to know a sweet, intelligent little boy before he was torn from his childhood forever.
I loved my childhood, best time of my life. I always always wish I could go back and relive it. But Prem (as he is called in the play) wants to rewind the clock so that he can ‘unsee’ the disturbing images now imprinted in his mind. No one’s childhood should be cut so short so brutally. If I hadn’t been “an old woman since I was 14″, according to my best friend, I know for a fact I’d still be living in my little fantasy world where fairytales were a daily experience. Old soul or not, Prem hasn’t had a choice but to grow up before his time.
If you want to learn more about Lizi and her work, or read more of her articles visit her website.
Tagged: childhood, live theatre, lizi patch, Play, pornography, punching the sky, scratch night, sex education, studio theatre, Theatre