As a teenager, and even today, I experience heterosexual cis men being attracted to me but not allowing sexual desire to become sex because of my perceived male body. But what if we could share that desire in a different way? This question inspires my practice of sex on a level independent of the body, existing in a different realm. I call this kind of sharing "verbal sex dates". With other people, and myself, we try to imagine our bodies differently and ultimately allow our desires and fantasies to exist, quite independently of our actual physicality. I want to explore the eroticism that arises in the exchange of vivid sexual desires on this verbal, imaginative level that goes beyond the purely physical.

I want to try to explore another dimension in which one allows a space for the exchange of sexual desires and eroticism on a verbal/oral level. I want to adopt the mythological connotation of the mermaid (woman): a kidnapper who comes from underwater worlds and takes men into the unexplored unknown depths. In my case, I am a mermaid body who volunteers in a ritualistic way, verbal sex work, for all those who want it, regardless of identity.

Similar to Tinder/Grindr, I go on "dates" with a person with whom I will try out a "verbal-sex-date". That means possible sexual fantasies we each (might) have for each other are exchanged verbally and explicitly at a distance from each other. In its current form, verbal-sex-dates are meant to emerge from mutual intimacy and consensus, and both of these qualities are necessary through the "dates".

Ronald Berger is a dancer and performer, non-binary, from Costa Rica and living in Berlin. The connection to nature and its performative qualities have shaped Ronald. The conflict between xis sexuality and the strong catholic, chauvinistic context of xis home country inspires debates, analyses and questions about social behaviour.

Profile Picture © Joana Lucas