On All Fours

A love letter calling a man a coward ended one of the bloodiest periods of French history.

A drawing of Phyllis and Aristotle, dating c.1500.

In the first essay I published for Sacred Monster, I wrote this: “We wring our hands over ‘unprecedented events’ – but any good student of the humanities will tell you that rarely has something never happened before. And in our current culture, we have only to look back some hundred years, to Jean Cocteau and Sarah Bernhardt and their ilk, to see reflected back to us our own challenging times.” 

It’s something I’ve been thinking about for the past few days, following the results of the US election. I’ve seen a lot of hand-wringing, a lot of blame thrown every which way, a lot of reasons as to why the results are the way they are (for the record: they’re all correct, and to think that there’s one set explanation is simply wishful thinking).

I’ve also felt utter disgust towards those I know who felt that someone convicted of 34 felonies and rape was fit to be the leader of the ‘Free World’, let alone a lunch line. But, as someone who used to work as a sex educator, who was called a fear monger – back in 2019 – for producing content about how to obtain medication abortion when it’s federally outlawed, none of this comes as a shock. One has only to learn how to read the tea leaves. 

The way I have approached Sacred Monster, and how I approach educating anyone who chooses to express interest in this niche that I occupy is specifically because there are more resonances with the past than we give our present credit for. Perhaps it’s a desire to feel different, or pure selfishness, human nature, or all of the above, but we are not as uniquely situated as we think. Some version of what is happening has happened before. 

When a challenging situation presents itself to me, my first instinct is to go to a museum to see these challenges reflected back to me. I find it rather comforting; few things in life are more thrilling than learning something new. I’ve learned, and seen, a lot in the finest museums of Paris this last week.