The Whore in Business
Endless burlesque acts bring up the persona of a naughty office girl or a corporate domina. In my first act, “Out Of Office”, I reversed this stereotype, revealing my vamp’s true and hidden desire to be used as a sex slave by the very men she bullies during the working day. No matter the type of persona created by a burlesque artist, understandably a lot of acts feed on a taboo connected to all things sexual in the context of office based work. This can be taken to an extreme in American working culture where a compliment on a woman’s good looks could these days end in court on grounds on sexual harassment. While all women - and men! - should feel safe at work and in all other areas of life, I’m convinced that denying and repressing sexuality in any context sooner or later will result in a distortion which is often hidden and, because of this, way more dangerous.
It is for this very reason that International School of Temple Arts where I trained in tantra has an open approach to sexual interactions arising, even between teachers and students, as long as there’s acute awareness of potential shadow aspects of such an interaction (e.g. attraction to perceived power or status) and plenty of peer-to-peer feedback received before and as connections of this type occur. Understandably, this is seen by many as very controversial but I believe that it’s overall much better that these connections happen in the light, and are open to scrutiny from every direction, as opposed to taking place in secrecy which is often the case in other tantra and sexual healing oriented organisations.
And so, I want to talk about the feminine sexual energy and the way it can and does manifest itself in the office, not just on a burlesque stage. In fact, I wish we could welcome it more as a source of creativity and personal power. After all Eros is synonymous with, and inseparable from, Life Force energy. It can be manifested in all sorts of ways and I’m glad that in our office we’ve broken the taboo surrounding all things sexual and can and do talk openly about relationships and sex, whenever it’s consensual of course. I’ll never forget a male colleague asking openly on Slack for recommendations of an appropriate central London establishment for a breakup conversation. Another colleague replied it’s all down to how long the relationship had been going for, presenting a range of potentially suitable options.
Personally, known for my politically incorrect love of filth around the office, I once received a birthday cake with shapely red letters forming the word CUNT on top of it. I was thrilled and remember prancing around the office, offering pieces of my cunt cake freely to whoever was keen. A Shoreditch bakery who created the masterpiece never forgot the unusual order and we became the local urban legend of the moment. To a point where when another colleague went to the same bakery to order a cake for someone else, more conventional this time, an excited member of staff shared, “You wouldn’t believe it but some startup assholes recently ordered a cake with the letters CUNT written on it”.
Based on my experience, and our cultural conditioning, our feminine counterparts are more deprived of openly expressing our sexual nature than our masculine counterparts. In the Western civilisation in the past hundreds of years, the Virgin archetype has squashed, diminished, and surrounded with shame the archetype of the Whore. An important narrative in our collective consciousness is that of a woman who is worthy and noble, a mother of a fabulous man (ideally: God Himself), while also remaining prudent and in control/suppression of her sexual energy (ideally - you’ve guessed it! - a virgin). Not exactly a straightforward path of leadership for the rest of us to follow.
The feminine globally is reclaiming her Eros, which translates to the roots of her embodied personal power. Importantly, according to teachings of tantra, a philosophy and a path of life combining esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, Eros doesn’t equal sexuality but is with it intricately connected. I don’t think I need to elaborate on the significance of embodied personal power in business. When we see and feel it, we know it. It’s far from imposing or overwhelming. It’s quietly self-assured but without the need to be right. It’s radiant and feels empowering to those who find themselves in its vicinity. It has nothing to prove, often not even much to say. It brings a solid presence that acts in the world in a very precise manner and only when it needs to. I would like to see more women and men embody this power in my lifetime and I know that I will.
An empowered and embodied woman – in other words one who has integrated her Whore (meant as an archetype) – is a considerable force in the world of work. Particularly if it’s also a woman whose masculine qualities are well evolved, way beyond the distortion of the masculine that ultra competitive and non-inclusive environments can encourage. I always look up to such women, whether their inner power and feminine-masculine balance is a result of a long journey of self discovery or comes relatively naturally at an early age.
A close friend of mine, and a founder of a communications company, identifies and presents as a gay woman even though she’s always felt her inner man somewhat stronger than her inner woman. It gives me joy to observe how the inner marriage works and manifests itself in her case. She is courageous, solid, reliable, practical and goal oriented in a way some men I look up to in my life have been. At the same time she is graceful, empathetic and very aware of her personal values and global impact she’s aiming to have in her industry. It’s a joy to be around her, when I can keep up with her vision and the speed at which she thinks (which I often can’t!).