Me as Madame Sans Cullotte. There were popular propaganda pamphlets that were handed out all over Paris during the Revolution. One of the popular characters was Madame Sans Cullotte. She represented what was expected of a citoyenne or Citizeness. She was expected to be active in her own liberation, hence the sword and the strong arms from pulling her own weight.
What is it to be Sans Jupe? And what is jupe? And where did it go?
Sans Jupe means without skirt.
During the French Revolution the working-class and impoverished peasants that rose up against the monarchy couldn’t afford expensive silk breeches like the nobility. They had to wear denim and canvas trousers to work and farm in. They called themselves the “Sans Culottes” or “Without Knee-Breeches”.
The term came to mean any kind of revolutionary, and also to hold egalitarian ideals.
I’m being tongue in cheek.
I’m an educated and well-adjusted girl and I’m choosing to engage in a profession which still has a lot of stigma to it. I’m being kind of rebellious (at least amongst my peers in their Ivory Towers).
Also, I spend a lot of time talking about what its like to be a model and turning the camera on the photographers, so in that way, I’m also being a little rebellious.
However, don’t get it twisted, I don’t think taking off my clothes makes me a rebel.
Being a Union rep, volunteering at my local food bank, hosting a show about young people and their position in the political sphere, writing a regular column about social change, these were all real acts of rebellion.
This is all in good fun. It’s not nearly as important as the real problems facing our society at large, or impinging and shaping our culture at the moment.
Also, Sans-Cullottes were known for their absolute brutality and love of simplicity and veritas. So, on my better days, I fancy myself of a similar temperament.
