using music & humor
I Want My Jacket Back is an interactive solo performance that explores new ways to think and talk about gender violence through the use of music, humor, and dialogue. A blend of stand-up musical comedy and facilitated dialogue with the audience, Dr. Freitag invites critical reflection on the social construction of gender, consent, sex positivity, gender violence prevention strategies, and healing after sexual assault. Her original humor offers a fresh, positive approach to engaging issues of gender violence, and her gracious, audience-friendly approach to dialogue encourages participation with a variety of college-level and adult audiences.
it started with a jacket
In the performance, Dr. Freitag sings a story about reclaiming sexual agency, confidence, and hope after sexual assault. Weaving together raw honesty and bits of humor, “Jean Jacket,” offers a path toward self-empowerment in the midst of loss: of agency, of power, and of safety. In this narrative, finding a new jacket to replace the one she lost at the scene of the assault symbolizes an act of self-love, a statement of renewed confidence, and a reclamation of power.
what makes this approach unique
The goal of I Want My Jacket Back is to start dialogue about gender violence that subverts and extends the discourse surrounding it. Through solo performance pieces, Dr. Freitag interrogates the ways gender violence has been discussed, theorized, and approached in terms of prevention. Throughout the session, she invites audience members to respond to the perspectives she has offered so that, together, everyone may come to a better understanding of gender violence, move toward healing, and find ways to prevent future violence.
I Want My Jacket Back exists at the intersections of gender violence, sexual politics, feminism, and activism. Dr. Freitag balances sobering consideration of gender violence issues with the lightness, hope, and therapy through humor, music, and personal story. She attempts to make the discussion accessible to a wide variety of audiences with varying levels of experience with and knowledge about gender violence issues, often drawing upon popular culture to do so. She offers her own experiences with gender violence as a starting point for discussion, and she seeks to create spaces for honest, critical, and challenging dialogue about issues of activism, victimhood, healing, and prevention. She defines and explores concepts including sexual violence, a culture of gender violence, consent, and sex-positivity. She poses questions to the audience in an effort to invite complicated and nuanced ways of engaging these concepts.
I Want My Jacket Back exists at the intersections of gender violence, sexual politics, feminism, and activism. Dr. Freitag balances sobering consideration of gender violence issues with the lightness, hope, and therapy through humor, music, and personal story. She attempts to make the discussion accessible to a wide variety of audiences with varying levels of experience with and knowledge about gender violence issues, often drawing upon popular culture to do so. She offers her own experiences with gender violence as a starting point for discussion, and she seeks to create spaces for honest, critical, and challenging dialogue about issues of activism, victimhood, healing, and prevention. She defines and explores concepts including sexual violence, a culture of gender violence, consent, and sex-positivity. She poses questions to the audience in an effort to invite complicated and nuanced ways of engaging these concepts.