This October 23, as part of an annual ritual at the Cockpit Theatre in London, The Feminist Economics Department (the FED) offered an Initial Coin Offering for a mythical feminist currency. In this ritual about 25 men from the audience went through a labour ceremony, during which they were cajoled with caring love and support by a group of women wearing balaclavas. This ritual was meant to act as a militant detoxification program, wherein the men could rid themselves of their patriarchy. After what felt like indefinite gestation, the men gave birth to the first mythical cryptocurrency.
Many thanks to Lita Wallis, Cecilia Wee, and Georgia Muenster for taking part in this completely fictional and playful performance. Photos by Jonathan Greet. “Although halfway through I was regretting joining in, by the end I was glad I had. Obviously, I wasn’t anywhere near experiencing child birth but lying there, struggling to breath in time with others, being watched by an audience and shouted at by some masked women, I did feel a bit vulnerable.”
“During the ritual I felt the fabric of the money system burn away, leaving me tingling, giddy and slightly disorientated. Then I walked outside onto the street and felt the money system slowly reassert itself, weaving itself back into my being again, closing down the brief utopian reality and consigning it back to its ordinary place as a distant utopian imagination. Now I have to pretend to be in labour every weekend to briefly free myself from the System once again”