ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

C’est la ‘Fête du slip’! When a Weak Field Mandate Event Tries to Change an Organizational Field

Émilie Ruiz^1*, Rémy Guichardaz², and Kim-Marlène Le²

¹Institut de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (Irege), Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Annecy-le-Vieux, France
²Bureau d’Economie Théorique et Appliquée (BETA), University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

 

 

Abstract

 

Field-configuring events (FCEs) temporarily bring together various actors and organizations with the intention of ‘constructing’ a field (Meyer et al., 2005, p. 467). Although the literature on the concept of FCEs is still in a developmental phase, it has nevertheless been able to define them (e.g., Lampel & Meyer, 2008) and propose typologies (Gross & Zilber, 2020; Lampel & Meyer, 2008). Lampel and Meyer (2008) distinguish between strong field mandate events, which play a dominant role in a field and have a strong configurative capacity, and weak field mandate events, which are peripheral and have a lesser configurative capacity. Gross and Zilber (2020) identify two configurative roles for FCEs: field-maintaining events, whose role is to maintain a field in its current state, and field-changing events, whose role is to modify it.

The literature also identifies three levers that enable FCEs to configure the field within which they occur: legitimacy (e.g., Moeran & Pedersen, 2011; Rao, 1994), conformity to the rules and norms in force in the field (e.g., Hardy & Maguire, 2010; Oliver & Montgomery, 2008; Zilber, 2008), and power (Gross & Zilber, 2020). These levers are all available, albeit to a greater or lesser extent, to strong field mandate events. However, the case of weak field mandate events raises questions, since such events have, by definition, neither power nor legitimacy. Moreover, when they are intended to modify a field (i.e., to engage in the configurative role of field-changing), these events are also devoid of conformity. Yet, the latter case seems all the more important, given that the literature (e.g., Anand & Jones, 2008; Gross & Zilber, 2020; Hardy & Maguire, 2010) emphasizes the value of studying FCEs that are intended to modify a field insofar as they can profoundly disrupt it (Hardy & Maguire, 2010), for example, by modifying the rules, the relationships between actors, or access to resources (Battilana, 2006).

Our article thus seeks to answer the following question: How can a weak field mandate event attempt to modify an organizational field? The objective is to identify the actions that a weak field mandate event can perform to access configurative levers, allowing it to attempt to modify an organizational field. To answer this question, we study the case of ‘La Fête du slip’ (La FDS), a ‘festival of sexualities’ created in Switzerland in 2012 whose main ambition is to modify the field of pornography by promoting alternative pornographic contents, in opposition to the mainstream pornography, which is dominant within the field.

Three main actions are described in our study. First, La FDS contributes to the emergence and structuring of an alternative pornography subfield, allowing for the elaboration of new norms and rules that are at odds with those that remain dominant within the mainstream. Next, it drives communities (of practice, as well as epistemic) that disseminate these new norms and rules. And finally, the festival creates openings to other alternative events within the field as well as to other related fields and to institutions outside the field, so as to build its legitimacy. These actions allow La FDS to access the configurative levers that would normally pertain to the strong field mandate and, thus, to be able to consider modifying the field of pornography.

These results contribute to the literature in several ways. They respond to the call of Lampel and Meyer (2008), Schüßler et al. (2014), and Jolly and Raven (2016), who recommended further study of how events, especially weak ones (Schüßler et al., 2015), can change organizational fields. Where previous studies (e.g., Gross & Zilber, 2020; Hardy & Maguire, 2010; Oliver & Montgomery, 2008) have restricted themselves to identifying the configurational levers inherent in strong field mandate events, our results identify actions that allow a weak event to access them.

In part 1, we discuss the literature on FCEs, presenting the concept and describing the configurative levers. Part 2 describes the case study and its scope, giving details about data collection and analysis. We then present our results in part 3, which is followed by a discussion and conclusion.

Theoretical framework

By way of setting out our theoretical framework, we first present the concept of FCEs, offering a typology and explaining their different roles; we then turn to focus on the levers that configure these events.

Typology of FCEs

The notion of FCEs arises from the concept of an organizational field, defined as ‘a series of institutions and networks which, taken together, constitute a recognized area of institutional life’ (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983, pp. 148–149). FCEs are ‘settings where people from diverse social organizations come together temporarily, with the conscious and collective intention of building an organizational field’ (Meyer et al., 2005, p. 467). They promote actions and interactions that take place in periodic and time-limited gatherings, so as to create a sense of collective meaning that legitimizes and consolidates value creation in a given socio-economic field (Anand & Watson, 2004; Lampel & Meyer, 2008).

More than just ‘temporary markets’ (Bathelt et al., 2017), these events are places where the standards, rules, and practices of a field are negotiated. They can be one-off (professional meetings) (Meyer, 2005) or periodic occasions (competitions, ceremonies and awards, etc.) (Anand & Watson, 2004; Rao, 1994).

The literature identifies several types of FCEs. Lampel and Meyer (2008) propose a distinction between strong field mandate events, which play a dominant role in a field, and weak field mandate events, which have a lesser configurative capacity. Located at the center of the field (Delacour & Leca, 2011), strong field mandate events share a dominant conception of the field, thus defining its boundaries, while weak field mandate events, located at the periphery, can either conform to the norms and values of the strong field mandate events or, on the contrary, seek to distinguish themselves from them. The literature also identifies two configurative roles: field-maintaining events, whose aim is to consolidate the current configuration of a field, and field-changing events, which are intended to modify it (Gross & Zilber, 2020).

Configurative levers of the FCEs

Irrespective of whether the field is to be maintained or changed, the literature identifies three configurative levers that can be employed (Table 1). The first relates to the legitimacy of the FCE within the field (Tang, 2011), which is measured by ‘appreciative values’ (Moeran & Pedersen, 2011), that is, criteria for judging the quality of products or services it produces and legitimizing them by ranking them. However, in order to influence a field whether by maintaining or modifying it, an event must itself be perceived as legitimate, that is, ‘desirable, suitable or appropriate within a socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs and definitions’ (Suchman, 1995, p. 574). To this end, Rao (1994) observes that events must have acquired a certain reputation within a field to gain this legitimacy.

Table 1. The three configurative levers of the FCEs

Legitimacy	To influence an organizational field, an event must be legitimate within the field. This legitimacy can be built through appreciative values, reputation, and the position of the event in the field.	Moeran & Pedersen (2011), Rao (1994), Tang (2011)
Compliance with standards and regulations	To influence an organizational field, an event must conform to the shared norms, rules, and beliefs in force in the field. This requires a common vision with the dominant actors and events.	Hardy & Maguire (2010), Oliver & Montgomery (2008), Zilber (2008)
Power	To influence an organizational field, an event must have power, which is conveyed by narratives and meta-narratives. If an event has power, it will be able to influence the decisions made within an organizational field.	Gross & Zilber (2020)
Source: Own elaboration.

Second, the literature emphasizes that in order to influence a field, FCEs must share a common vision with the dominant actors (Oliver & Montgomery, 2008). Fields are characterized by formal rules, such as laws or professional norms (Scott, 2001), as well as the shared expectations and beliefs (Zilber, 2008) to which events must conform (Meyer & Rowan, 1977).

Third, power (Gross & Zilber, 2020) is what allows an event to exert influence within a field, in particular over the decisions and agreements reached between the stakeholders of the field, and over which problems, objects, or contents are promoted or put on the agenda to be considered by the relevant actors, thus shaping the way those problems are thought about and represented.

Although the literature to date allows us to identify these three configurative levers, it retains one major limitation: specifically, all these levers apply to strong field mandate events, which are dominant in the field to the point of being ‘quasi-monopolistic’ (Lampel & Meyer, 2008, p. 1028), and which possess legitimacy, conform to rules and norms, and have the capacity to assert their power over the field (Hardy & Maguire, 2010).

Regarding weak field mandate events, field-maintaining events are certainly compliant with norms but have less legitimacy and power; and field-changing events run the risk of appearing even less legitimate, and therefore having less power over the field, by the very fact that they seek to oppose the rules and norms in force within it. This makes the study of weak field mandate events whose role is to change a field (field-changing) all the more interesting, as their ambition appears to be out of step with their configurative capacity. The question that arises is thus the following: how can a weak field mandate event attempt to modify an organizational field?

Methodology

Because the topic of our research is new and complex, we proceed by conducting a single exploratory qualitative study (Yin, 2011). We first introduce the field of pornography and then the case of La FDS. We then detail the data collection and analysis.

Presentation of the field of pornography and La Fête du slip

The adult entertainment industry is worth between 6 and 97 billion dollars in the United States alone (Naughton, 2018) and includes some of the world’s most visited websites.¹ This so-called mainstream pornography is promoted by dominant events, such as the AVN or the XBiz Awards, which are intended mainly for professional organizations with commercial objectives. The content is mostly calibrated for online consumption, highlighting beauty canons and practices considered attractive to a heterosexual male audience.

The standardization of mainstream pornography results in poor working conditions, a reductionist representation of human sexuality, and a sexist and heteronormative system of remuneration for the content produced. It has limitations in esthetic and narrative terms, as well as regards the diversity of body types and practices represented (Le, 2018). The dominant conception fully embraces the industrial and commercial character of the content produced and activities depicted, resulting in pornography’s subordination to the economic field: ‘good’ pornography is thus primarily that which is lucrative (Lane, 2001). This pornography is expressed by different esthetic currents such as gonzo, hardcore, or softporn.

In opposition to this mainstream pornography, over the last 10 years, an alternative pornography has developed (Table 2) (Ramond, 2020). This ranks its contents in the light of noncommercial appreciative values. These criteria of judgment affirm the autonomy of the pornographic field with respect to the economic field (‘good’ pornography is that which respects a certain ethic, represents sexual diversity, values esthetic creativity, contests patriarchy, etc.). This pornography originated in alt-porn and is embodied by other currents such as queer and post-porn. It is thus necessary to distinguish mainstream pornography, characterized by mass production and marketing, from alternative pornography, characterized by an output that is more radical, authentic, and innovative (Attwood, 2010; Maina, 2010).

Table 2. Mainstream versus alternative pornography, adapted from the literature

	Pornography
	Mainstream (dominant)	Alternative
Currents	Erotic (soft porn), gonzo, etc.	Alt porn (gothic), feminist, postporn, queer, etc.
Standards	The pornographic product is a calibrated, highly substitutable entertainment content generated by a mass industry Hierarchization on the model of the ‘market of fantasies’	The pornographic product is a cultural work that is the result of the labor of artists Prioritization based on appreciative values outside of market considerations
Speech	Concerning the representation of the field of pornography: ‘sex work is work’, society should consider pornography/sex work to be a creative and/or service industry that meets ‘common’ human needs (= normalization of pornography)
	‘Pay for your porn’: consumers should reward the work/industry (the opponents are unfair trade practices, piracy)	One must create a ‘better porn’: creators can change their means of production (the opponent is capitalism, patriarchy)
Challenges	Change the laws Find technological ways to encourage, enable, and enforce monetization Change marketing (tube development, freemiums, data and community-based business models, OnlyFans, etc.)	Change the perception of explicit creations (make them visible by bringing them into the public space) Develop a work ethic and encourage fringe initiatives (job training, community support, activism, etc.)
Producers of texts	Sex work unions in Europe Film Producer unions in Europe and elsewhere Syndicates and performers’ agencies in the US (in Europe, seen as pimping) Long-established porn media (Hustler, Playboy, AVN, XBiz) Awards (AVN Awards, XBiz Awards)	Sex work unions in Europe Festivals and awards (manifestos, speeches, press releases) Conferences
Discursive spaces	Internet: social media, mass media, online media Awards ceremonies, sex fairs, festivals, academia (porn studies)
Sources: Attwood (2010), Biasin et al. (2014), Cramer (2007), Darling (2014), Dubois (2014), Jacobs (2007), Maina (2010), Smith (2014), Trachman (2013) and Vörös (2015).

La FDS is positioned in this alternative perspective. Unlike other alternative events, La FDS does not only show pornographic films; its project is broader, with a strong accent on artistic value, and concerning the theme of ‘sexualities’ in a variety of areas (identity, gender, sexual practices, etc.) and disciplines (cinema, photography, etc.). Created in 2012 in Lausanne (Switzerland), the festival welcomes several thousands of participants annually in May (Table 3). For 3 to 4 days, it brings together heterogeneous actors: pornographers, artists, organizers, volunteers, members of local associations related to the festival’s themes and values (feminist associations, advocacy groups for sexual minorities, etc.) as well as members of the association’s support committee and the general public.

Table 3. Key figures for La FDS (2013 to 2019)

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Total entries	1,844	1,670	2,800	3,500	4,000	5,000	6,000
Members of the permanent bureau	15	15	24	30	30	37	37
Volunteers	23	28	52	81	80	100	120
Artists	36	42	46	75	98	64	72
Source: Own elaboration.

La FDS aims to promote an inclusive conception of sexuality, in opposition to the mainstream practices and hierarchies disseminated by the dominant events of the field. La FDS is thus a weak field mandate event that aims to act on the organizational field of pornography by seeking to legitimize and impose inclusive contents that are opposed to the dominant practices and standards, thus attesting to its field-changing character.

Data collection and analysis

Data collection

This work relies on data collected from multiple sources, allowing us to increase the validity of our construct by triangulating the data (Yin, 2011). Regarding the primary data, between June 2016 and July 2021, we conducted 43 interviews (with an average length of 45 min) with various actors of La FDS (creators, management, visitors, artists, institutional representatives, etc.) and individuals active in the field of mainstream and alternative pornography (pornographers, festival and fair organizers, and artists) (Table 4). The data collection took place in three phases, in 2016, in 2018 and in 2021, corresponding to three major evolutions of the festival: the creation of the film competition in 2015, the strong engagement of the public and the artists after 2018, and a change of leadership in 2021.

Table 4. Interviews

In the alternative pornography field		In the mainstream pornography field
Role	Number of interviews	Role	Number of interviews
Organizers of festivals and fairs	6	Organizers of festivals and fairs	2
Pornographers	17	Pornographers	1
Professionals (excluding pornographers)	5
FDS festival-goers	12
Total	43
Source: Own elaboration.
FDS, Fête du slip.

All interviews were recorded and transcribed (Eisenhardt, 1989) and followed an interview guide. For example, for La FDS members, we first asked a series of questions about the festival (creation, values, organization, strategy, objectives, etc.), followed by questions about the field of pornography (organization, actors, events, links, positions, power relations between mainstream and alternative, etc.). The third part focused on the configurative levers inherent in the field of pornography (legitimacy, conformity, and power). We also collected extensive documentary data (Appendix 1).

Data analysis

An iterative content analysis was conducted (Miles & Huberman, 1991), involving continuous interpretation and progressive focusing based on the theoretical elements as well as the empirical data. We performed three rounds of coding using NVivo software. In the first round, we went through all the transcripts and classified them into units of analysis using the categories from our analysis grid. The second round allowed us to refine the themes into different subthemes (Table 5) and to analyze them so as to construct our results. Finally, the third round of coding served to add a dynamic dimension to our analysis: in this step, we focused on the chronology between the actions identified in the previous coding round and the causal relationships between them.

Table 5. Coding grid

Themes	Subtopics
Legitimacy	Appreciative values
	Reputation
	Position in the field
Compliance	Vision
	Rules/standards
Power	Speech
	Decision-making power
Subfields	Dispute
	Cohabitation
	Emergence of alternative subfields*
	Intra* legitimacy
	Inter* legitimacy
Communities*	Communities of Practice* (COPs)
	Epistemic Communities* (ECs)
Source: Own elaboration.
Note: *Themes and subthemes that emerged from the field.

Results

The objective of this research was to identify and study the actions implemented by a weak field mandate event that is attempting to access the three configurative levers and thus to modify an organizational field. Based on the study of La FDS, three groups of actions (Table 6) emerged: (1) actions contributing to the emergence and structuring of the alternative pornography subfield, (2) actions driving the creation of communities (of practice, as well as epistemic), and (3) actions creating openings to alternative events within the field as well as to other related fields and institutions outside the field.

Table 6. Summary of results

Action	Contributions to the levers
	Lever (see literature)	Details
Contribute to the emergence and structuring of the alternative pornography subfield	Compliance with standards and regulations	By opposing the mainstream via the alternative subfield, La FDS is developing new standards and rules with which it is in compliance.
	Power (to a lesser extent)	Because of its active participation in structuring the alternative subfield in the face of the dominant subfield, La FDS is identified as a key event.
Lead communities (of practice and epistemic)	Compliance with rules and standards	The new rules and norms developed are disseminated in the alternative subfield and in the field as a whole through the communities. They are therefore more visible and more ‘institutionalized’.
	Legitimacy (to a lesser extent)	With the direction of communities, La FDS and its work on the alternative subfield become more legitimate.
Be open to alternative events (within the field of pornography) and to other related fields and institutions (outside the field of pornography)	Legitimacy	By being perceived as desirable, suitable and appropriate by other actors within the field (alternative actors) or outside the field (related or institutional fields), La FDS gains legitimacy.
Source: Own elaboration.
La FDS, La Fête du slip.

Contributing to the subfield of alternative pornography: opposing the mainstream to develop new norms and rules

This first result identifies the contribution of La FDS to the emergence and structuring of the subfield of alternative pornography as an action allowing it to access the configurative levers. We present the effort of La FDS to oppose the mainstream subfield and its contribution to the subfield of alternative pornography.

The creation of La FDS: the alternative as a form of resistance

Created in 2012 by Stéphane and Viviane Morey, La FDS is the result of a series of considerations on gender. In the early days, the brother and sister submitted their project to a theater, Le Bourg, which offered to devote a night to it. The success of that night led to two observations. First, the public was eager for more thematic events to be held. Second, the decompartmentalizing of gender and sexuality issues appeared to be relevant. This led the pair to want to contribute to the emergence of a different pornography.

From the start, their motivations were clear: to oppose mainstream pornography, which they denounced. As Viviane said in 2018, ‘we should not just try to ban things [mainstream pornography, ‘bad porn’] but try to produce viable, interesting alternatives that propose a different future’. This desire for opposition is still clearly expressed by La FDS, especially in its manifesto (Appendix 2): ‘The creation of the alternative is the positive foundation of resistance’. The ambition of La FDS is thus to modify the field of pornography by legitimizing and prioritizing practices that convey values consistent with progressive considerations on gender and sexuality, such as inclusion. This involves questioning and fighting dominant practices in the field (for example, by promoting new ways of producing and filming). Through its critical and reflexive approach and its inclusive values, La FDS positions itself on the fringe of the field of pornography, making this a weak field mandate event within a field that is currently dominated by industrialized production standards and a heteronormative vision of sexuality. Since the weak mandate character of the event prevents it from prevailing over the dominant events, hence, while still asserting its oppositional stance, the festival therefore had to resolve to coexist with them, contributing to the emergence and structuring of the subfield of alternative pornography.

From the emergence to the structuring of alternative pornography

As one of the festival’s creators explained, ‘when you’re just starting out and you want to do things differently, it’s hard to make yourself heard’. Lacking the leverage to impact the pornography field as a whole, La FDS has thus had to coexist with the dominant subfield by contributing to the emergence of the alternative pornography subfield. The first edition of the festival allowed this subfield to emerge, while the subsequent editions have confirmed this trajectory by placing the alternative at the heart of the festival’s programming. Created during the second edition, the pre-festival nights known as Les Préliminaires (the preliminaries) are an example of this. They bring together an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) audience that is sensitive to La FDS’ concerns, thus creating a space that is conducive to the structuring and the diffusion of an alternative pornography:

In general, it’s also the time when we try to go a little further in what we propose to be explicit and participatory at the sexual level. (Creator/La FDS Management, 2018)

Other notable developments are those that have enabled the structuring of the emergent alternative pornography within the festival by setting itself up as a form of resistance to the dominant mainstream subfield. Its spatial organization has evolved since the second edition, with the creation of safe spaces and dedicated and protected time-spaces, allowing pornographers and artists to feel safe discussing their professional and personal issues. As pornographers and artists who are committed to fostering different practices and representations of sexuality, they do not always feel respected or welcomed in mainstream events, and the organizers have made sure that artists and pornographers feel as comfortable as possible.

By contributing to the emergence of an alternative pornography, La FDS elaborates new norms and rules based on its values. However, given the weight of dominant field events, it cannot change the current configuration of the pornography field.

Driving communities to spread new norms and rules in the field of pornography

To disseminate the norms and rules of the alternative subfield, La FDS drives communities: communities of practice and epistemic communities.

Managing a community of practice

Because it is considered illegitimate, pornographic work is often rendered invisible or inaudible. This translates into a set of stigmas that reinforces the difficulty for stakeholders in taking ownership of their work and by extension coordinating with other actors. The majority of alternative pornographers are women who usually work alone (especially ‘camgirls’). Because of the stigma of pornographic work, it is very difficult for them to identify commercial partners. A number of them launched their business after attending the festival:

[Last year at the Fête du slip] it was a good experience. I was at a really nice festival with a lot of people that I had a lot in common with in terms of sex. It was really interesting just to see that this kind of thinking exists. It was really nice and then all of a sudden, I found myself traveling a lot [from one festival to another] because of my work and my films. (Pornographer, 2016)

This awareness of the existence of other pornographers with similar activities and problems promotes the construction of a sense of community. The members of this community may share technical tips (hardware, software, sound recording, editing, etc.) to improve the esthetic quality of their content. They may also share entrepreneurial advice relating to legality and monetization skills. These exchanges are also an opportunity to negotiate the recruitment of performers or technicians according to a non-monetary logic that is close to that of the gift/counter-gift:

We can do a trade. […] It’s really a matter of ‘you shoot my film and I’ll shoot in yours and in exchange what’s-his-name will help you edit if you help him with the camera on such-and-such a shoot’, that’s the only way it works because there’s no money. (Pornographer, 2021)

La FDS allows less experienced creative individuals to benefit from the advice of their peers and learn how to valorize their content both esthetically and economically, as well as to access resources that they would otherwise be unable to obtain. These entrepreneurial dynamics are in part a result of a deliberate effort by the organizers to promote ethical values formalized by the manifesto, which has not changed since the creation of the festival.

As a true ‘code of practice’, the manifesto casts aside all moral judgments associated with pornographic work or specific sexual practices/preferences and ensure freedom and security to the participants. These principles of tolerance and open-mindedness, which are conducive to exchanges among the participants, are made concrete through a series of collective activities that are supported by the festival. For example, the organization of professional meetings encourages people to speak out and gives participants the opportunity to introduce themselves, to discuss their interests and skills, and to get to know each other. Along the same lines, ‘safe spaces’ are designed to strengthen participants’ interactions:

For us, the festival venue is something very important […] it’s not just a place, something which might not exist tomorrow. We have also created, with the light, the set, the exhibitions, etc., a safe space. I think that’s something we’ve learned, to have an identity of our own as a collective, a kind of feeling that is unique. (Festival director, 2017)

Through informal individual or group feedback on each other’ work, the establishment of safe spaces fosters a sense of community built around negotiated esthetic and artistic practices and standards:

Coming to events like that – because, you know, there’s no porn community in the UK […] – so coming to Berlin [Pornfilmfestival] or events like that is the only space where I can get validation that what I’m doing is okay. (Pornographer, 2017)

Honoring the diversity of human sexualities rendered invisible by mainstream pornography, La FDS uses inclusive values to facilitate exchanges and practices among peers and to forge an element of identity. This identity is closely bound up with the oppositional position that La FDS occupies in the pornographic field, which translates into an epistemic community.

Steering an epistemic community

La FDS has also undertaken to drive the creation of an epistemic community. The manifesto is one of the major concretizations of this community. Published in 2012, it was one of the founding acts of the festival. Being available on the festival’s website², it is also posted in hard copy at various physical sites that welcome participants and the public, and its principles are reiterated by the organizers on many occasions, particularly during the festival’s inaugural and closing speeches. The text consists of a list of 14 principles aimed at giving the participants a practical and cognitive ‘common language’ and reflecting the current state of the struggles within the pornographic field. Principle 9 of the manifesto states that ‘The creation of an alternative to the destructive porn industry is necessary’.

By creating new rules and norms for the alternative subfield, La FDS intends to take part in the struggle that is going on within the field of pornography as a whole. This positioning of La FDS pushes its various participants not only to become aware of that field but also to take a position within its current configuration, that is, to take part in the struggle to change the field toward a conception that better matches their aspirations. In addition, various workshops promote the development of different forms of knowledge. This contributes formally to the establishment of normative criteria for the further development of the alternative offer.

Among these initiatives, a 2016 roundtable discussion was thus organized entitled ‘The Other Porno’, which aimed precisely at describing and defining what alternative pornography is according to La FDS. In addition, since 2015, La FDS has organized Le Slip d’Or, an international competition of alternative pornography short films, which acts as a formal process of content validation. The competition rewards ‘films that present a high artistic quality, explore new erotic narrative approaches, and renew traditional representations of bodies, genders, and sexualities’. It allows the alternative esthetic choices and canons previously discussed and negotiated to be made explicit, by rewarding certain contents rather than others. In addition to the organizing team, the jury is made up of experts in their field who have significant social or media capital.

The jury’s choices, along with the manifesto and the workshops, contribute to the formation of a corpus of appreciative values: an ‘ethic of production’, in the sense that these norms constitute rules of conduct and standards concerning the ‘good’ way of conceiving of and doing pornographic work, a choice of sex-positive themes and sexual representations, and esthetically ambitious, multidisciplinary contents.

The appreciative values conveyed by the validation authority of La FDS thus lead to an alternative ranking of content. Where the dominant field events primarily follow an economic hierarchy determined by commercial success, La FDS formulates a hierarchy that is autonomous of the market.

We realized, by discussing with the artists we invited, that our artistic requirements were not necessarily aligned with what would allow them to develop something profitable and commercial. […] What interests us is to put forward films that are innovative in terms of form, content, and that bring something artistically interesting. (Creator/direction of La FDS, 2018)

This autonomy of the process of ranking of alternative pornographic content attests to the existence of the subfield of alternative pornography, whose structuring and its evolution follow a logic of their own, without a direct relation to the events and actors that are dominant in the field.

Over the years, La FDS has progressively come to lead communities of practice and epistemic communities that have disseminated the new norms and rules elaborated in the alternative subfield. However, in order to be able to assert itself in the face of mainstream pornography, it is necessary for the event to acquire legitimacy.

Being open to alternative events within the field and to other related fields and institutions to build legitimacy

By contributing to the emergence and structuring of an alternative pornography, La FDS intends to take part in the ‘struggle’ that is ongoing within the pornographic field. Such an ambition, however, requires legitimacy. According to the report on the 2015 edition, the festival aims precisely to accomplish this ‘journey towards legitimacy’: however, being a weak field event, it is particularly difficult for La FDS to build this legitimacy. By opening up to other events and institutions, La FDS has been able to work on building legitimacy within its own field as well as within related fields.

The construction of legitimacy in the subfield of alternative pornography through the insertion of the festival in the European network of comparable events

Initially, the legitimacy of La FDS was built up within the subfield of alternative pornography. Since then, La FDS has disseminated and lent credibility to the appreciative values associated with its inclusive approach by inserting itself into the European network of similar events, in particular through the media coverage of the Slip d’Or. The award-winning contents are promoted by the organizers using their connections with specialized media outlets and festival partners, which allows the festival to export its image beyond the local level. Award-winning artists thus become true ambassadors for La FDS in other pornography events.

Like the competition, the magazine POV (point of view), created by the organizing team, is a way to export the festival internationally. For example, its opening took place at the Pornfilmfestival in Berlin, a major alternative pornography event.

We have a lot of exchanges for example with Porny Days in Zurich. We also tend to invite programmers from other festivals as juries. Afterwards, in terms of the selection itself, we try as much as possible to have films that have not been shown at other festivals and then to have the first stamp saying ‘this film won at our festival’, then afterwards it is shown at other festivals; this creates visibility for us. (Creator/director of La FDS, 2018)

Due to the lack of interactions between La FDS and mainstream events, however, it is difficult to extend this legitimacy beyond the subfield of alternative pornography. Indeed, according to La FDS, any formal partnership with mainstream events would risk blurring the ‘appreciative values’ constructed and maintained by the epistemic community as well as the identity of the community of practice that is developing within it. Thus, La FDS does not seek direct contact with the major events of the field. Despite this, its influence is not non-existent:

I notice that the people we tend to program are going more and more to events like the AVN Awards in Los Angeles. […] And then we also notice that there are more and more bridges being created or there are performers from alternative porn who find themselves in mainstream porn and the other way around as well, there are more and more exchanges being made. (Creator/La FDS Management, 2018)

Some pornographers see the epistemic validation of the festival as a fundamental signal, which attests to their competence and creativity, which they will then be able to promote in more mainstream events.

For me, as an alternative artist, it’s very important to win awards that really mean something, even if afterwards I have to go and do PR and show up at bigger [mainstream] events […] it also contributes to the visibility of the alternative and so it will become more and more important. We also have a role to play in that, even if, honestly, it’s a lot less fun [at these big events]. (Pornographer, 2021)

La FDS thus contributes to putting the themes, considerations, and objects developed within its community of practice and validated by its epistemic community on the agenda of mainstream actors. Indeed, on the side of mainstream events, even if they have no direct contact with La FDS, the influence of alternative events is felt:

We’ve known it’s been around for a while, but in the last few years, we’ve felt real competition from alternative porn. With the news, #MeToo, etc., there is a public demand and these events [like La FDS] have things that we don’t have. (Mainstream event organizer, 2021)

Yet, the event is not sufficiently legitimate to compete with the dominant field events in any more significant way:

However, to say that they will sink us … no. We feel that what they are promoting corresponds to a growing demand and to considerations that are certainly valid, but we still have a lot of good days ahead of us. (Mainstream event organizer, 2021)

Ultimately, the legitimacy acquired by La FDS within the subfield of alternative pornography, while giving it visibility within the field of pornography, remains insufficient.

Constructing a legitimacy outside the field of pornography by opening up to related fields and involving the festival in local community initiatives

By dissociating pornography from the image of ‘obscenity’ that is normally attached to it, La FDS has forged a legitimacy that goes beyond the field of pornography. In 2014, for instance, the festival team introduced a ‘Cabaret littéraire’, an intimate and reflective series of readings of erotic literary texts. Similarly, in 2015, the festival partnered with the Sévelin 36 Theater, which aims to promote contemporary dance at the regional level. The 2016 edition also featured a virtual reality artist and an independent video game producer.

This multidisciplinary programming has allowed the festival to acquire a strong legitimacy among artists from related fields, who in some cases participate in the dominant events of their own field. By associating with these artists, La FDS gains legitimacy:

I am an illustrator. Out of personal interest and conviction, I started an ‘alternative’ porn account that has been quite successful. […] When I’m invited to talk about it, I know that I’m allowing associations, causes, smaller events to have some visibility! (Artist, 2021)

Over the years, La FDS has also developed numerous partnerships with local and national web media outlets dedicated to LGBT and feminist causes. While these communities are not directly active in the field of pornography, they speak to an audience that has a certain cognitive proximity to La FDS’ artists and creative individuals because they are also sensitive to societal themes related to gender and human sexualities. As the creator of the festival pointed out, ‘in our audience, for instance, we have 60-year-olds who are interested in art and literature and who will find themselves at the Humus gallery watching a photo exhibition on face bondage, which is completely improbable!’

By opening up to different actors from related fields, La FDS has thus succeeded in acquiring legitimacy outside its field.

It was quite natural and quite simple to find legitimacy in artistic professionalism in all the other disciplines. Quite quickly, with our partnerships with the theaters in Lausanne, with our committee and the institutional support we had, we managed to build a legitimacy that was able to attract professional artists in the other fields. (Creator/La FDS management, 2018)

This legitimacy is managed by a special body within the festival, the Committee of the Association, which brings together Nyon’s deputy for cultural affairs, the former director of a mainstream film festival in Lausanne, a journalist from RTS (Radio télévision suisse), and a philosopher who is a professor at the University of Lausanne. Thanks to their network and expertise, the members of the Committee give the festival access to resources that for an event of this kind are quite unprecedented, thus legitimizing its content and values in the local institutional fabric.

These resources are primarily financial. For the first edition, 85% of the festival’s funding came from ticket sales and participatory funding; in 2016, ticketing receipts accounted for only 28% of the resources, coming second to donations from various foundations at 31%. The rest of the expenses are covered mostly by public subsidies from the canton (the Swiss administrative term for region) and the city of Lausanne (27% in total), allowing another form of external recognition of the festival’s legitimacy. ‘You have legitimacy when you get money’ (La FDS Management, 2021). From an institutional point of view, the pornographic aspect of the project is made more acceptable by La FDS’ emphasis on artistic quality:

In the process of institutionalization and fundraising, we realized that it was very important to emphasize the artistic side […] their goal is to support artistic quality, artistic professionalism first, so that had to be included. […] (Creator/La FDS management, 2018)

One might also mention access to certain media resources. The 2015 edition, for instance, was covered by the local (Lausanne Cités, Le Régional) and national (Le Temps) press. And finally, in 2015, the festival gained access to new material resources by moving to the space of the Arsenic, a contemporary performing arts center located on the outskirts of downtown. This has allowed the festival to go beyond the clandestine framework of the field of pornography by welcoming a bigger audience, so increasing its visibility and its reputation in the field, and thus furthering its legitimacy.

However, this gain in legitimacy and the associated increase in attendance have also entailed challenges. City subsidies, for example, are only granted insofar as the festival remains compliant with local policies (safety, sex education, respect for sexual minorities, etc.). Organizers are thus encouraged to think of their activities in terms of policy objectives, which can conflict with the objectives of the alternative subfield.

I think in order to get funded, we had to make sure that we didn’t tell them that what we were doing was pornography. Because if you’re looking at what they’re legally allowed to fund, pornography is specifically excluded. […] You have to show them that really what you’re doing is also somewhere in there is sex education. (Festival director, 2017)

This prioritization of the ‘social’ aspect can be problematic insofar as it complicates initiatives aimed at commercially enhancing content and thus reinforcing the professionalization of the alternative subfield. However, such initiatives can also be badly received by the artists and pornographers themselves, who tend to be suspicious of commercial intermediation because of the lack of effectiveness of online intellectual property rights. There is also an ‘ideological’ matter in play here: the majority of alternative pornographers consider the economic valorization of their content to be, at worst, a contradiction, or, at best, a challenge to their militant and artistic approach:

I think we have to stop considering ourselves as fringe, anarchist, anti-capitalist, even if of course I think we have to be. […] But we have to take money from other people who are doing shit and do something better with it! […] And to make money in our society you have to make certain concessions. (Pornographer, 2021)

This tension between the commercial and artistic rationales reflects a tension that lies at the core of the alternative pornographic subfield as a whole. The alternative subfield grounds its autonomy from the mainstream subfield precisely on the fact that it is based on a different hierarchical structure. Hence, the overtly economic and commercial valorization of its content can be perceived by some community members as a deleterious alignment with the mainstream, or even a form of ideological compromise on the part of the festival. Conversely, an over emphasis on artistic valorization can also exclude certain participants:

I know that I don’t send them any more films, it’s useless, I know that my films are not ‘La FDS-approved’ because they are not arty, not politicized. (Pornographer, 2021)

The process of cross-field legitimation pursued by La FDS thus has its limits. In the long run, it could create greater cognitive distance between pornographers and other artists.

Discussion and conclusion

The objective of our research was to identify the actions that allow weak field mandate events to access configurative levers in an attempt to modify an organizational field. Beyond the three actions identified, this study makes several contributions.

Theoretical contributions

Given that the literature remains unclear on the configurative roles of FCEs, our work offers a helpfully concrete example of how a weak field mandate event can attempt to change a field (Gross & Zilber, 2020). Moreover, by focusing on field-changing events, we respond to Jolly and Raven’s (2016) call for further study on the role of these events so as to better understand barriers to change within organizational fields (Schüßler et al., 2014). While the literature has made a helpful start by identifying the levers inherent in strong field mandate events, our results identify actions that can allow weak field mandate events to access those levers and thus to attempt to change a field. In what follows, we discuss these results in more detail.

The emergence of a subfield in an attempt to change an organizational field

While it has failed to change the field of pornography due to a lack of power, conformity, and legitimacy, La FDS has nevertheless contributed to the emergence and structuring of an alternative subfield that coexists with the subfield of mainstream pornography, while opposing it. While this element is new in the literature on FCEs, it is fully in line with the work of Bourdieu (1992), who defines fields as autonomous spaces, which constitute frameworks for the struggles between dominant and dominated actors. As Bourdieu indicates, the different positions taken by the actors in their struggle for control of the field can crystallize in the form of subfields, functioning like fields of reduced size. Bourdieu gives the example of the literary field, structured by a subfield of restricted production turned toward a public of ‘peers’ who are supposedly more ‘educated’, and a dominant subfield of big ‘commercial’ productions. Our results show that the actors in the field of pornography follow rationales that are similar to those identified by Bourdieu. As a weak field mandate event, La FDS must resign itself to coexisting alongside mainstream pornography. This coexistence does not, however, diminish its will to oppose it: the construction of an alternative subfield constitutes a means of engaging in the struggle over the ‘control’ of the field.

Moreover, this desire of La FDS to create a subfield that never or only rarely interacts with dominant events nuances the work of Hardy and Maguire (2010), who, in their study of a strong field mandate event, indicate that weaker and dominated actors can capture influence by taking advantage of the opportunities offered by discursive spaces, ‘sites of contestation in which competing interest groups seek to impose their definitions of what the main [issues] are and how they should be addressed’ (Jacobs et al., 2004, p. 442). Conversely, our results show that a weak event that strives to change a field does not necessarily have to share a space and interact with dominant events. It can, rather, set itself up as an experimental space, a ‘temporary experimental settings where field actors gather and experiment with alternative models of action’ (Cartel et al., 2019, p. 66).

Communities of practice and epistemic communities in the dissemination of new norms and rules

The literature on FCEs often restricts itself to the coordinating role played by these events within a field (Delacour & Leca, 2011). Our research thus extends this work by providing evidence that FCEs can emerge and drive the development of communities. Specifically, our results show that its community-building role has allowed La FDS to disseminate new norms and rules developed in the alternative subfield, associated with new practices and actors within the field of pornography.

In line with Lave and Wenger (1991), who highlight trust, mutual commitment, and the development of a strong sense of belonging as key requirements for the emergence of a community of practice, our results indicate that the inclusive and convivial values defended by the organizers and volunteers of La FDS – as for example in the safe spaces – have made the emergence of this community possible. As our results show, this community of practice is itself oriented and influenced by an epistemic community that has become formalized over time, notably through a validation body (the jury of the Slip d’Or) and formalization procedures such as the manifesto, which are much like the ‘codebook’ described by Cohendet et al. (2014). Without imposing an excessively hierarchical and directive system of management over these communities (Lave & Wenger, 1991), these elements make it possible to clarify and stabilize the appreciative values that influence the creative process of the participants. It also contributes to the dissemination of these same appreciative values within the field through the effect of media exposure and the labeling of award-winning content.

Finally, in the case of La FDS, the symbiotic community that has been built up over time has also allowed the event to disseminate new norms and rules. Rather than conforming to the mainstream or doing trades with strong field mandate events to reach compromises (Jolly & Raven, 2016), La FDS has structured different communities with the hope of making the alternative pornography subfield dominant. While the development of communities of practice first allowed practices to emerge that differed from those in the mainstream porn field, the epistemic community then formalized and disseminated them within that field. This result, which is new in the literature, thus breaks with the tendency, widespread in the literature, to see organizational fields as comprising a single community, made up of different communities that must be articulated (Schüßler et al., 2014).

The opening of La FDS outside the field of pornography as a key action in building legitimacy

Finally, our results build on findings from the literature (e.g., Oliver & Montgomery, 2008; Rao, 1994) that indicate that an event must be legitimate if it is to influence a field. As we have seen, our results suggest that La FDS attempts to play a role as a field-changing event by contributing to the emergence and structuring of a subfield, that of alternative pornography, and to disseminate its rules and norms through communities of practice and knowledge. However, the creation of communities alone is not enough. To be able to impose the conceptions and standards of the subfield to which it belongs, La FDS must itself have legitimacy within the wider field.

However, not wishing to conform to or enter into substantive exchanges with strong field mandate events, La FDS has had to build its legitimacy differently, and notably from outside the field of pornography. Our results thus qualify the literature (Oliver & Montgomery, 2008; Rao, 1994), which suggests that an event must share the vision of the actors at the center of the field and acquire an organizational reputation within it if it is to succeed in changing the field: such a strategy of standardization would necessarily cause La FDS to lose its alternative values. The challenge for the festival is thus to succeed in not being ‘excluded’ from the field or deinstitutionalized (Delacour & Leca, 2011), yet without becoming mainstream (Moore, 2005). This difficult balance echoes the concept of organizational stigma (Roulet, 2019). Being on the fringe of the current configuration of the field, La FDS suffers from a certain stigma within it. However, since this dominant configuration is itself stigmatized by other related fields, the intra-field stigma of La FDS paradoxically constitutes an element that it can activate with actors from these related fields in order to capture new forms of legitimacy. Thus, stigma does not necessarily entail negative reputation and illegitimacy (Roulet, 2019).

What is more, the influence of a weak FCE with a vocation to modify a field can be reinforced when the event benefits from its weak position by connecting to other related fields. In this case, the event converts its weak configurative capacity within its field into a strategic asset through two mechanisms. On the one hand, by opening up to other fields, the event accumulates a specific social capital that allows it to act as a structural bridge (Burt, 1995) between different fields. Thanks to this position as broker, it can access resources that would have been difficult to capture within the field, precisely because of its weak configurative capacity. On the other hand, by opening up to other fields, the event makes the field’s borders more porous and thus contributes to its enlargement or displacement, allowing it in return to occupy a less marginal position.

A boundary is a distinction that establishes categories of objects, people, or activities (Lamont & Molnár, 2002). Zietsma and Lawrence (2010) address boundaries specifically in the context of organizational field transformation. The authors explore how actors can create, maintain, or disrupt practices that are considered legitimate within a field (practice work) as well as boundaries between sets of individuals and groups (boundary work). While the authors emphasize boundary work within the field, the case of La FDS shows that this work can also take place between organizational fields. In this case, La FDS pushes the borders of its own field by building legitimacy with other disciplinary fields (literature, cinema, dance, etc.) and with institutional actors. La FDS thus effects a ‘stretching of the borders’ toward a ‘grey zone’, within which practices considered as legitimate are contested (Markóczy et al., 2013).

Managerial contributions

Our results also contribute managerial suggestions to weak field mandate events that seek to be of the changing type.

First, we recommend that these events consider the processual nature of the three actions identified in our results. In the case of La FDS, it is because the festival has from the outset displayed a strong desire to contribute to alternative pornography that it has subsequently formalized a community of practice and then an epistemic community. Without these communities, it would have been difficult for the festival to accrue legitimacy within and outside the field of pornography.

Furthermore, our results attest to the importance of the positioning (Table 7) adopted by field-changing events within their field/subfield. In this case, by attempting to keep alternative pornography on the margins of mainstream pornography through related disciplines, La FDS has adopted an autonomous and decentered positioning. The different positionings we identify not only offer various advantages but also carry limitations, and field-changing events must be aware of these limitations as they develop strategies to support their intention to change an organizational field. In the case of field-changing events, which often involve emerging fields or subfields, the event’s positioning is all the more important as it contributes to the success or failure of its intention to change the field.

Table 7. Possible positioning of field-changing events

	Definition	Benefits	Limitations/challenges
Alignment	Reconciliation of the event with the norms and standards of the dominant configuration of the field	Access to more in-field resources, more legitimacy, and power over the field	Dilution of the initial field-changing vocation of the event, risk of failure of part of the initial stakeholders
Autonomy	Construction or reinforcement of a subfield via a formalized autonomization of the event with respect to the dominant configuration of the field	Maintenance of the initial field-changing vocation of the event, consolidation of the collective identity of the initial stakeholders	Limited influence outside the subfield, restricted access to intra-field resources
Decentering	Opening the event to practices and knowledge of related fields	Maintaining the initial field-changing vocation of the event, regeneration of knowledge and practices and stakeholders, and wider influence of the event	Work to bring the issues and field-changing objectives of the event into line with the issues and objectives of related fields, risk of too great a cognitive distance between the actors and therefore of failure on the part of some of the initial stakeholders
Source: Own elaboration.

These positionings complement the recommendations of Gandia and Rüling (2022), who identify the external factors in the failure of events that attempt to influence an emerging field (the absence of a common and shared vision of the field by the actors and the lack of communities around the field to reveal its identity value). In their study, the authors omit internal factors such as the positioning adopted by the event, which is nevertheless central, as shown in the case of La FDS.

Our results also suggest that the scope of aligned, empowered, or decentered positioning may extend beyond the spatiotemporal boundaries of the event alone. Indeed, it seems that the aggregation of actions implemented by the events of a subfield influences its future trajectory within the field. The subfield can thus evolve toward (1) assimilation by the dominant subfield when the weak field mandate events lose their field-changing vocation; (2) its endurance, with transgressive values (which will evolve as a consequence of the reappropriations successfully carried out by the dominant subfield), as is the case for La FDS; or (3) absorption by the related field(s), if these same events adopt positions that are increasingly off-center with respect to the initial field.

Limitations and future research directions

Beyond these contributions, this work presents several limitations that suggest new avenues of research. First, the uniqueness of our case and its sectoral specificities warrant caution as to the scope of our results. A relevant extension of this work would be to study a larger number of cases by following two research paths. The first would be to pursue further research on the field of pornography by adopting a more systemic perspective. For example, our interviews reveal that the Pornfilmfestival occupies a central role in the field of European alternative pornography. The reciprocal relationships and influences of other events on the configurative effects of that event would complement our ‘micro’ approach with a more ‘macro’ perspective (Bathelt et al., 2017). Analyzing the field, rather than an event within it, would also allow us to further investigate the role of subfields in the configuration of a field. Indeed, while our results assign a central role to subfields, our level of analysis, being oriented toward the event, prevents us from taking these results deeper, especially regarding the question of their emergent character (Vuattoux & Déjean, 2020). The second way would be to examine other weak field mandate events in organizational fields undergoing transformations, perhaps even located at the borders of other socio-cultural fields. For example, in light of the issues related to sustainable agriculture (Valiorgue, 2020), one might well imagine that there are weak field mandate events seeking to modify the field of agriculture in the face of various standards disseminated within strong mandate events such as the Salon international de l’agriculture.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank La Fête du slip for their assistance with this research. They also thank the colleagues with whom they had rewarding discussions on this topic (whether on FCEs and/or pornography: we won’t say who is expert on what …), as well as the BETA laboratory for allocating the resources needed for this project. Finally, they thank the reviewers and the editor of the journal, Hélène Delacour, for their insightful and constructive feedback and their interest in this work.

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Appendices

Appendix 1. Inventory of documentary data

Nature	Comments
Festival website	https://www.lafeteduslip.ch/
Archives of the festival websites	Available from 2014 to 2021 8 archives available Online: https://www.lafeteduslip.ch/festival#archives
Festival manifesto	Available since 2014 14 main principles Broadcast during the Festival or other events Online: http://www.lafeteduslip.ch/festival#manifeste
Editing reports	Available from 2013 to 2021 8 reports Forwarded by the organization
Press kits	Available since 2014 8 press kits online 4 to 6 documents per file (Slip d’Or press release, launch press release, program press release, etc.) Online: https://www.lafeteduslip.ch/2014/presse (replace the date for each year)
Articles about the festival	From the press (e.g., in the Libération newspaper, etc.) and specialized blogs (e.g., Le Tag parfait, etc.) 2 print articles, 8 online https://www.rts.ch/info/culture/12191726-a-lausanne-la-fete-du-slip-continue-dexplorer-les-sexualites.html https://www.laliberte.ch/news-agence/detail/une-fete-du-slip-remaniee-demarre-a-lausanne/604771 https://10point15.com/viviane-stephane-morey/ https://360.ch/culture/61581-la-fete-du-slip-lausanne-viviane-stephane-morey-un-espace-pour-se-sentir-pleinement-qui-on-est/ https://www.letemps.ch/culture/fete-slip-lutte-contre-coutures-limitent https://www.lausannebondyblog.ch/fete-du-slip-2018-le-programme-decortique/ https://www.lacote.ch/articles/regions/vaud/la-fete-du-slip-a-lausanne-a-recu-le-soutien- de-la-ville-de-lausanne-508556 https://www.infomeduse.ch/2020/07/10/lage-dor-des-festivals-est-il-revolu/
Social networks of the festival	In particular Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lafetedusliplausanne Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaFeteduSlip Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lafeteduslip/
Fanzine of the festival POV Paper	In paper format, onsite consultation for the 2016, 2017, and 2018 editions
Source: Own elaboration.

Appendix 2. Manifesto

La Fête du slip is a positive and festive approach to sexuality. Sex is about having fun, so let’s have fun! There are three elements to be taken seriously in sexualities: consent, health, and possible procreation as a result of certain genital combinations. All of the following statements are based on these three foundations. There is no more or less right or valid way to practice sex. Each person chooses the one that suits him or her. You can’t have too much sex, or not enough. You can’t have too many partners, or not enough. There is no type of partner that is more valuable than another. The possibility or not of procreation is not a criterion of validity or morality of a sexual relationship. There is no limit to human creativity and the possibilities of different identities and sexualities. Gender is only as important as we make it. Gender is what everyone wants it to be. Human biology presents such a diversity that a simple binary concept of man-woman can only be reductive and inadequate. Gender is a sex toy. All bodies are valid, whether you think they are beautiful or ugly. Health is not a criterion of a right or wrong body. Nor is body modification a criterion of validity or morality of bodies, no matter how extensive the transformation. All clothing choices are valid, and the rest is a matter of taste and esthetics. There is no way to dress, let alone a degree of non-clothing that does not express in some way an implicit consent. The biggest obstacle to a healthy approach to sexuality is taboo, censorship, and prudery. You can’t talk about sex too much, or in too much detail. Sex is everybody’s business. The cultural expression of sexualities is unavoidable and important. La FDS wants it to be participatory, free, and collective rather than exploitative, normative, and elitist. The way in which bodies and sexualities are portrayed is an essential issue to be taken into account. La FDS seeks to highlight a plurality of cultural expressions of sexualities, beyond the overrepresentation of audio-visual and the male gaze. Sex is never obscene in itself. It is the violence, hatred, abuse, dehumanization, and exploitation that are obscene. Creating an alternative to the destructive porn industry is essential. Sex work is work. Every person has a fundamental right to bodily autonomy. None of the above statements describe the reality of the majority of humans in their practical experience of sexualities and gender relations. We recognize the privilege they imply. The negative relationship of these expressions to social reality implies a resistance that is both necessary and inescapable. It also requires respect, awareness, and humility for those who do not have the luxury of accessing all facets of sexual positivity. The creation of the alternative is the positive foundation of resistance. The celebration of the alternative is its actualized reproduction. It is not a question of setting up a new morality. This manifesto expresses the foundation of a minimal practical ethic that is ours today and is valid only for us here and now. All those who appropriate it are accountable only to themselves.

Source: La Fête du slip manifesto, http://www.lafeteduslip.ch/archive#manifeste

Footnotes

1. Pornhub and xHamster are among the 50 most visited sites in the world (Ortiz, 2018).

2. The festival’s manifesto can be found in Appendix 2, or on the festival’s website: http://www.lafeteduslip.ch/festival#manifeste