"There's something sensational about cursing. That thinning of the lips before we launch our invective, the pleasing reduction in stress from each obscenity and the bonding with others by transgressing normal social rules.

"But our curses all have unique markers that leave indentations through history, little smudge marks that show how they formed into the words we loved today."
- Amy Gray, The King's Tribune

We are proud to bring together two exciting female theatre makers Edith Podesta and Tan Liting to discuss two particular words - "Bitch" and "Butch" - both words reclaimed from their origins as derogatory slurs used on women seen to be playing outside of society's rules.

Bitches and butches may share similar traits which would be deemed as positive in a cis-gendered male—of being ambitious, aggressive, confident, demanding, smart, sexual, etc. However, women who display the above characteristics are labelled as ugly, unnatural, even bestial.

Instead of shying away from these insults used to discredit the identity and experience of women who transgress societal norms, join Edith and Liting as we unpack their experiences of being Singapore-based female theatre makers creating works about what it means to own, perform or reject these labels.

From the 2016 Fringe will be Edith, with BITCH: The Origin Of The Female Species. In the lead-up to the 2017 Fringe: Art and Skin, Liting will be sharing about B*TCH, a work she has been developing under Centre 42's Boiler Room programme, which delves into the realms of feminine masculinity in an attempt to provide a glimpse into the private lives of women who relate to or identify as butch, and aims to question the positions of those who are not bound by binaries.

This talk is supported by Centre 42 and will be moderated by Sean Tobin, Artistic Director of M1 Singapore Fringe Festival.