Lysistrata

I missed this stunt when it first came out, but I came across it in a copy of the Green Voice which I found on the train last week, and thought it was worth putting up here.

On the Sunday of the APEC weekend, Greens MP Ian Cohen took to the seas off Bondi in an action directed at APEC spouses, asking them to withhold sex until their husbands or wives stop all war and commit to binding greenhouse targets. Ian paddled out surrounded by police (on jet skis this time) to reveal a novel but historically proven message.

In keeping with the universal concept of survival ‘Make Love Not War’- Ian painted one word onto his surfboard and paddled through the waves.

The APEC spouses having lunch at the Bondi Icebergs were invited to consider a simple but potent word displayed by Ian from the water: ‘LYSISTRATA’

“Aristophanes wrote this tale about women who had grown weary of war. Led by Lysistrata, they succeeded where other aspirational strategies had failed,” Ian explained to waiting media. “My goal today was to place firmly in the minds of the political partners this ancient Greek play, which features the women of Greece going on a sex strike to prevent their husbands going to war.”

“It worked in Ancient Greece. It can work today. Spouses withholding sexual favours can change the world for the better.”