BD Owens reviews the book, Assuming the Ecosexual Position.

It might be time to rethink our relationship with ‘Mother Earth’

When I was a little kid, a very close friend had a very cute oversized T-shirt with a childlike drawing of the Earth printed on it and the sweetly scripted commandment: “Love Your Mother.” The shirt was a tent when we were fourth-graders, billowing over primary-color leggings and dirty sneakers. But by high school, it had become soft and a little snug and more than a little ironic given that we, as teen girls, were inexplicably and consistently mean to our actual mothers.

Many would agree that the idea of “Mother Earth,” that dear old cliché of the environmental movement, has become equally worn out. There’s little doubt that the concept of “Mother Earth” is well intentioned: Think of the Earth as someone you love — your mother! Who could you love more than that? Treat her with respect and care and she will provide for you in perpetuity.

That advice immediately begins to fall apart, however, when you consider the societal-level sacrifices climate experts say we humans need to make in order to avert the worst consequences of global warming. Thinking of Earth as a mother hasn’t inspired much in the way of filial piety. You might even say the relationship has become toxic — or at the very least, extremely one-sided.

But if our view of Earth as a mother hasn’t done her any favors, what are our alternatives? One option is to think of the planet in slightly more intimate terms. Environmental activists, artists, and romantic partners Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle are considered to be the cofounders of the ecosexual movement — a philosophy in which we cherish the Earth as a kind of romantic life partner. In their new book Assuming the Ecosexual Position, they urge you — yes, you, inhabitant of this planet — to consider taking the Earth as a lover. My own personal aversion to the phrase “take [x] as a lover” aside, the intention here is pure. If you develop a relationship with the earth as intimate and caring as one you might have with a significant other, you’ll care for it.

Here’s where things get a little bit alternative, even for the Savage Love devotees among us. Ecosexuality is more than a thought experiment: Stephens and Sprinkle have held wedding ceremonies between themselves and the Appalachian mountains. They’ve married the moon, the soil, the sky. Relationships with the earth are meant to be polyamorous and sensual; the definition of a sexual experience, for example, should extend beyond whatever happens between two human bodies to what happens between a human body and the springtime sun, morning air, alpine lake water. If there’s not sufficient pleasure in the relationship, after all, there’s less incentive to preserve it. The artists “think about sustainability a lot differently than other people do;” in that if a particular practice isn’t at least a little bit fun, you won’t keep doing it.

So why the emphasis on a romantic, sexual connection? “There’s an urgency to please one’s lover, where there’s not so much with your mother or friend,” explains Stephens. “I feel like with a lover, I’m more aware of my missteps. A lot of people take their mothers or friends for granted.”

Stephens and Sprinkle elaborated on their approach during a long phone conversation over breakfast in their San Francisco kitchen. They said they consider themselves “matchmakers, trying to help people fall in love with everything around them.” Sprinkle pointed to the recent oil spill in her native Southern California to illustrate their point.

“If you really really deeply love the beach, and feel a real heart connection and concern, and imagine the beach is alive and it’s sentient, you’re gonna be more heartbroken and want to protect that beach from the horrible tar,” she said.

There is certainly something appealing about this ideology. The world is your love, your love, the world; sounds like a nice life! (As Sprinkle says: “When you’re an ecosexual, you’re never alone!”) We have to admit that over the history of humans on Earth, the bar for “environmental care” has been lowered so far it’s in hell. Any meaningful improvement would require a real transformation in how we see the ecosystems and natural features around us, and believing you can fuck a mountain would certainly constitute a significant transformation.

PDF of the article here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 26, 2021

Franconia Sculpture Park

Contact: Alyssa Auten, Communications & Creative Director

alyssaauten@franconia.org | www.franconia.org 

FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK HOSTS OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH FOR ASSUMING THE ECOSEXUAL POSITION: THE EARTH AS LOVER AND US PREMIERE OF THE ONE MINUTES—IMAGINE THE EARTH IS YOUR LOVER WITH ANNIE SPRINKLE AND BETH STEPHENS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1

Franconia Sculpture Park in collaboration with the University of Minnesota Press and The One Minutes is pleased to present the official book launch for Assuming the Ecosexual Position: The Earth as Lover by Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens with Jennie Klein. Published August 15, 2021 by the University of Minnesota Press, the book presents the story of the artistic collaboration between the originators of the ecosex movement, their diverse communities, and the Earth. Assuming the Ecosexual Position tells of childhood moments that pointed to a future of ecosexuality—for Annie, in her family swimming pool in Los Angeles; for Beth, savoring forbidden tomatoes from the vine on her grandparents’ Appalachian farm. The book describes how the two came together as lovers and collaborators, how they took a stand against homophobia and xenophobia, and how this union led to the miraculous conception of the Love Art Laboratory, which involved influential performance artists Linda M. Montano, Reverend Billy Talen, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, theorist Paul B. Preciado, and feminist pornographer Madison Young. Please join Franconia on Wednesday, September 1, 2021 for a meet and greet and book signing with the artists, an outdoor book hunt throughout the sculpture park, and a night of ecosexy short films which explore mad, passionate, and fierce love for the Earth.

Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at Franconia Sculpture Park

An Ecosexy Book Launch Happening with Annie Sprinkle, Beth Stephens, and Jennie Klein

6pm-6:30pm: Meet & Greet, Book Signing, and Drinks with Annie Sprinkle, Beth Stephens, and Jennie Klein at Franconia Commons 

6:30-7:30pm: Assume the Ecosexual Position: A Peripatetic Walk and Book Hunt through Franconia Sculpture Park

7:30-8:30pm: The US Premiere of Imagine the Earth is Your Lover, a document of the Ecosex Movement. 23 one-minute films and other ecosexy shorts from around the world curated by Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle.  Watch the trailer at: https://vimeo.com/463829285

8:30pm-9:00pm: Q&A and Discussion

For more information on Assuming the Ecosexual Position, please visit: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/assuming-the-ecosexual-position

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens have been life partners and 50/50 collaborators on multimedia projects since 2002. They are authors of the Ecosex Manifesto and producers of the award-winning film Goodbye Gauley Mountain and Water Makes us Wet, a documentary feature that premiered at documenta 14 and screened at MoMA in New York. Sprinkle is a former sex worker with a PhD in human sexuality. Stephens holds a PhD in performance studies and is the founding director of E.A.R.T.H Lab at University of California at Santa Cruz.

Sprinklestephens.org

Jennie Klein is professor of art history at Ohio University. She is editor of Letters from Linda M. Montano and coeditor of Histories and Practices of Live Art and The M Word: Real Mothers in Contemporary Art.

About Franconia Sculpture Park

The mission of Franconia Sculpture Park is to foster an inclusive community to create and contemplate contemporary art inspired by nature and our ever-evolving world. Founded in 1996, Franconia operates a 50-acre outdoor museum, active artist residency program, and a depth and breadth of arts programming for a diverse and engaged public.

Franconia is located at 29836 St. Croix Trail in Shafer, Minnesota, and is free and open to the public 365 days a year from 8am to 8pm. Please visit us at www.franconia.org.

The story of the artistic collaboration between the originators of the ecosex movement, their diverse communities, and the Earth.

What’s sexy about saving the planet? Funny you should ask. Because that is precisely—or, perhaps, broadly—what we have spent many years bringing to light in our lived art. In 2008, we married the Earth in a performance art wedding which set them on the path together to explore the realm of ecosexuality, taking the Earth as our lover and making our mutual pleasure a embodied expression of passion for the environment. Ever since, we have been not just pushing but obliterating the boundaries circumscribing biology and ecology, creating ecosexual art in their performance of an environmentalism that is feminist, queer, sensual, sexual, post-human, materialist, and steeped in humor.

Now available for pre-order at
University of Minnesota Press and Amazon

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