A day of events celebrating our different sexual bodies, asking questions about sex, sharing the rage of menopause and what all of this has to do with our health.
Arts OneQueen Mary University of LondonMile End Road
A Care Cafe where we talk about sex with Midgette Bardot, Tallulah Frendo, Tammy WhyNot, Dr Ali Mears, and more.
A Care Cafe is a warm and welcoming space where individuals come together for meaningful conversations – under a roof of care. At the heart of this Care Cafe is a commitment to exploring taboo topics surrounding diverse bodies, sex, and menopause. It's a safe haven where attendees feel empowered to openly discuss the impact of periods on a monthly basis, delving into the emotional nuances that accompany this natural phenomenon.
But that's not all. We're also excited to feature interventions by the talented artists, including Midgette Bardot (Tamm Reynolds) and Tallulah Frendo. Midgette will shed light on the intersectionality of disability and sex, sparking thought-provoking discussions and fostering a deeper understanding of these complex issues. The afternoon will round up with an opportunity to ask Dr. Ali Mears, a consultant on sexual health, all of our questions.
Join us for an afternoon of connection, enlightenment, and community at the Care Cafe!
Midgitte Bardot is the alter ego of a queered queer person with dwarfism who’s existence for millennia has been roughed around enough for them to develop an appetite for violence, vulgarity and vengeance. Midgitte’s canonisation in dwarf culture and heritage is long overdue. Mines. Midgetism. Militance. Mudpies. Mercury. Magnificence. Their work invokes a revolutionary zeal in the most inhibited of people, confronting our shared humanity on a dying planet. They also do drag.
Tallulah Frendo, a disabled performance artist who delves deep into the human experience, pushing boundaries and challenging perceptions. I use the value of my personal experience to discuss the struggles of living in an ableist society, focussing specifically on how my body is perceived as though it needs to be “fixed” or “healed”.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/891516007377?aff=oddtdtcreator
Dry Bits is a one-woman show about midlife, rage, and coming home by Imogen Ashby
It’s like a teenager has crawled inside of me, has taken over, is camping out, taking acid and telling the world to go f*** itself’
Imogen is a contemporary performance maker, facilitator and coach. Her artistic practice is interdisciplinary spanning live performance, movement and theatre. She is currently artist in residence at Sheffield Theatres where she has been developing her show.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/895372622617?aff=oddtdtcreator
A chance to sit around a table as an expert on your lived experience and talk with sexual health experts,Heather McMullen, Joyce Harper, and Ali Mears.
The Long Table, developed by Lois Weaver, is a conversation format that experiments with the private form of a dinner party as a structure for public discussion. Anyone can take a seat at the table.
Joyce Harper is an Internationally renowned, award-winning educator, author, podcaster, academic, and scientist. She is Professor of Reproductive Science at University College London in the Institute for Women’s Health where she is Head of the Reproductive Science and Society Group. She has worked in the fields of fertility, genetics and reproductive science since 1987, written over 240 scientific papers and published three books. Her topics of interest are menopause, reproductive health education and fertility treatments. She is leading the development of a UK Menopause Education and Support Programme with support from key organizations
(https://www.ucl.ac.uk/global-health/uk-national-menopause-education-and-support-programme).
Heather McMullen is a Senior Lecturer in Global Public Health at Queen Mary University of London. She has a background in medical social science and specifically in the area of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice. She conducts research in this area but also works with civil society and multilateral organizations. Recently she has begun exploring how climate change and other environmental crises relate to sexual and reproductive rights and politics. She is interested in how these intersections are framed in global policy and advocacy but also how they are experienced by people in regard to their own reproduction.
Dr Ali Mears has been working as a Consultant in Sexual health in the Jefferiss Wing, St Mary’s hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) since 2007. She has a sub speciality interest in Sexual Function and is the lead clinician in the Jane Wadsworth Clinic. This is a multidisciplinary, dedicated service for all genders of adult patients with sexual difficulties. Anyone can be referred to this service, via their GP. Over the years she has worked with performance artists, Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw on ‘What Tammy Needs to Know about Getting Old and Having Sex ‘and Brian Lobel on a piece entitled ‘Sex, Cancer and Cocktails’.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/long-table-on-sex-and-health-tickets-897230870687