After having uninhibited the clitoris, Lori Malépart-Traversy tackles masturbation with Magic caresses, an animated series made up of five short films, with the aim of informing, demystifying and finally freeing women from a taboo that has lasted long enough. All gently and with a smile (even a bit of modesty).
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
The first episode of the series, produced by the NFB (Masturbation: the little story of a great taboo), is also presented this week as a world premiere and in official competition, as part of the 20are Summits of animation cinema, in Montreal.
The latter, the most didactic of the five, offers, in less than four minutes, a skilful historical overview of the construction of this solid taboo: from prehistory (where people masturbated “in complete tranquillity”) to repression (with the publication of theOnanisma collection denouncing the so-called dangers associated with solitary pleasures), without forgetting the allegedly virtuous inventions of Kellogg and Graham (for whom foods that were too tasty risked encouraging “auto-erotism”, that can’t be invented) .
If we recognize its importance nowadays (in terms of stress reduction, self-knowledge, libido), the fact remains that masturbation is still far from being uninhibited, concludes the episode, as succinct as it is complete ( with its creator in the narration): “When will we finally be freed from the taboo of masturbation? »
“Animation lends itself well to subjects surrounding sexuality, comments Lori Malépart-Traversy, met Monday in the new premises of the NFB downtown. I think people are less intimidated when you approach these subjects with characters, drawings, colors. This allows to bring it in a much more playful way. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Director Lori Malépart-Traversy
Crazy, indeed, what two dancing little fingers can evoke… And the director can testify to it: her first animated short film, a university work on the theme of the clitoris (2016), has been seen to date nearly 13 million times, all platforms combined.
The other four episodes of the series (big Bang, leather desire, Sweet Jesus and turquoise fish) are directly inspired by the eponymous book (magic caresses, self-published in 2015), a collection of intimate testimonies on female sexuality, collected at the time at the invitation of Sara Hébert and Sarah Gagnon-Piché (to whom we owe the podcast The preliminaries) and their partner, illustrator Sophie Bédard. Their mission? Demystification, an objective that directly joins that of Lori Malépart-Traversy, as we will have understood.
The director, for her series, has therefore selected four stories from the book (after validation with a sexologist, to ensure the representativeness of the subjects chosen) to tell them in cartoons. Better: in cartoons narrated by the main interested parties (including Sarah Gagnon-Piché). On the stories (in the “I”) of precocious or, on the contrary, later sexuality, are thus superimposed the naive drawings of fish, mermaids, oysters or downright naughty little toys. If the tone is light and the drawings make you smile, several serious themes are approached in passing. Think: vaginismus, fantasy, porn, religion and, of course, shame. Omnipresent subject if any. “She took very good care of my intimate story, to make it something magnified, something universal”, welcomes moreover, and with emotion, Sarah Gagnon-Piché. “I’m really proud of us… and of her! »
“I wanted to use all of that to uninhibit masturbation,” continues Lori Malépart-Traversy. It is important that the message is positive. Let it be said: “It’s okay to masturbate…or not!” she concludes with a laugh.