Abstract:

On May 19, 2015, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger stood on stage and shook the hands of all the students whose degrees were conferred that day…all except one. This student, Emma Sulkowicz (they/them/she/hers), carried a dorm-issue mattress onto the dais—the same type of mattress on which they were raped. Sulkowicz, a gender-fluid performance artist, created the endurance performance Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) to work against the nonperformative sexual assault process at Columbia. For one academic year, they bore the mattress everywhere on campus, reminding those around them not only of their own rape but of the university’s general failure to properly adjudicate sexual assault cases. When critics took to the internet to cast aspersions on Sulkowicz’s motives, accusing them of not being raped, Sulkowicz refused to be disciplined, filming a re-staging of their rape and posting it online. This article explores how Sulkowicz’s performances with and beyond the mattress inhabit victimhood and destroy it. By countering nonperformativity with performance, Sulkowicz transfers agency from perpetrator to survivor.

摘要：

2015 年 5 月 19 日，哥伦比亚大学校长李·博林格站在讲台上，与当天授予学位的所有学生握手……除了一个。这名学生 Emma Sulkowicz（他们/他们/她/她）将一张宿舍床垫放在讲台上——与他们被强奸时使用的床垫相同。Sulkowicz 是一位性别流动的表演艺术家，他创造了耐力表演床垫表演（承载重量）来对抗哥伦比亚大学的非表演性性侵犯过程。在一个学年里，她们在校园里到处都铺着床垫，不仅提醒她们周围的人他们自己遭到强奸，而且大学普遍未能妥善裁决性侵犯案件。当批评者在互联网上诋毁 Sulkowicz 的动机，指责他们没有被强奸时，Sulkowicz 拒绝接受纪律处分，拍摄了他们强奸的重演并将其发布到网上。这篇文章探讨了 Sulkowicz 在床垫上和床垫之外的表演如何占据受害者身份并摧毁它。通过用表现来对抗非表现性，Sulkowicz 将能动性从肇事者转移到幸存者。