Baboon (2021)

First, to clarify, the swollen red bottom happens only on ‘female’ baboons. It's a sign that they're ready to mate, so yes, it's about sex. And when we say their bottoms are swollen, we do mean swollen. LiveScience reports that the swelling has been recorded between 4 and 6.5 inches (10 and 16.5 centimeters).
- HowStuffWorks

Baboons’ primary predators are humans, spotted and striped hyenas, lions, cheetahs, leopards and crocodiles. Leopards find them to be difficult prey, so only young baboons are threatened in most cases. - Natural Habitat Adventures

Let’s say humans are men, hyenas are bears, lions dom-tops, cheetahs masc4fem, crocodiles bi-curious men and leopards obviously daddy’s.

A clarification of terms used, if unfamiliar:

Men: 1. plural of man 2. an adult male human being. - Cambridge Dictionary & Oxford languages
Bear: A bear is a larger and often hairier man who projects an image of rugged masculinity. - Wikipedia
Dom-top: Masculine gay guy, rough top and dominant , who likes innocent and shy bottoms. - Urban Dictionary
Masc4Fem: No definition to be found on the web. Masculine guy looking for a feminine guy (sexually). - No source
Bi-curious: (of a heterosexual person) interested in having a sexual experience with a person of the same sex. - Oxford Languages
Daddy: A daddy in gay culture is a slang term meaning an older man sexually involved in a relationship or wanting sex with a younger male. - Wikipedia

These are some labels and categories put on certain types of men and the list is way longer than this. But it’s these specific categories of (gay) men stand out in this story, as those are often the predators this baboon encounters. By no means am I suggesting that every person who identifies with any of these categories is predatory. It just caught my attention that most of the ones that are/were (in my experience) primarily if not only identified with the labels listed above.

This series was conceived in a year of research and exploration into the subject of the objectification, fetishizing, sexualizing of people (mostly assigned male at birth) who are perceived as ‘feminine’. Out of the same research came the performance pieces ‘GrAY ZONE’ and ‘Danceland’ as well as the visual work ‘YES SHOES CAN! ’. BABOON portrays a series of vulnerable yet powerful poses wearing a jockstrap, attire which often automatically assumes submission since only the bottom is bared and the genitals are covered up. Much like the bare red bottom of the animal assumes it is only meant to be fucked rather than it having a practical use for sitting comfort. Assumptions are the most vital aspects of the problematics mentioned earlier, together with neglect of consent it forms a dangerous threat. Assuming another human’s body is yours to take, an object for pleasure, to use, to satisfy your needs. This without consent of that body in question makes it very much comparable with the primitive behaviour of the hyenas, lions, cheetahs, leopards and crocodiles. No empathy, no regard for or even acknowledgement of the other individual as an individual, just another piece of meat to fuel yourself with.

A predator.

That said, it is not so black and white. Some predators are also prey or have been in the past, some prey are also predators or will be in the future. Some want to be prey. Some want to be predator. What does make it black and white is the presence or absence of consent. Although in the case of consent itself there can be a gray zone = the state between consent and non-consent, where the consent is not clear. (=> ‘GrAY ZONE’)

Clear or not, we should make it clear that ‘yes’ means YES and ‘maybe’ means NO, ‘perhaps another time’ means NO, ‘I’m not sure’ means NO, ‘no’ means NO! ...