Writer and performer Sierra Callaghan talks new comedy show ‘Hysteria’: “Ignorance is a huge motivator behind a lot of people’s worst behaviours”

The TikTok personality returns to the stage with this solo performance exploring the history of sexuality and gender identity, currently running at the Edinburgh Fringe.  Guillermo Nazara chats with the artiste — to learn more about the development of the piece, which promises to drill audiences deep in the subject.

Your coming to the stage (no pun intended) stems from the success of your science education TikTok page combined with your passion for performing. However, what prompted you to write about this specific subject?

I have been performing on stage and screen long before TikTok, though I will admit to this being the first time any of my work has routinely reached hundreds of thousands of people. I still can’t quite believe that. 

Alongside performing, I was a science teacher for a decade, and a consistently shocking aspect of that job was parents who were not equipped to educate their children on their bodies, just in terms of general health, not even in a safe sex context.

They were constantly making the call to take their children out of reproductive and relationship health classes. I’m talking parents who were not literate, could not tell you what the curriculum actually was, didn’t prepare their daughters for their first menstrual cycle in the slightest (leading to more than one kid melting down with me, sure they were dying) who more than anything did not want their children learning about consent in any capacity because that might lead them to realise they are in an abusive dynamic with their families, communities, and God.

Hysteria is my love letter to everyone who has been failed by their caregivers in that way; it’s meant to make the information accessible, fun, and non-taboo. It’s giving permission to laugh at how silly we have been and continue to be, while also delivering scientifically and historically accurate information. I think that access to correct information, especially about our bodies, is an immutable human right, and why not be entertaining at the same time?

How have you managed to encapsulate the history of human sexuality in roughly an hour?

I think it would be arrogant to say that I’ve encapsulated the entirety of the history of human sexuality in one hour, but I’m certain I’ve encapsulated the high notes by focusing on the most ridiculous, outrageous, and common. The Victorian era is what I’ve structured most of the narrative around, both because of my particular love for the aesthetics of that period in time and because of the absolutely outrageous things people where doing while maintaining this polished veneer of civility and purity. 

Why do you think sexuality has traditionally been seen as a taboo subject in our society?

Anything that is concerned with autonomy, especially where female presenting persons or vagina owners are concerned, has been a subject of contention historically and into the present day. What we consider to be ‘the way we have always done things’ is in fact a relatively novel set of circumstances where we require people to exist in systems of power dynamics and poverty. And by ensuring people produce children that they can’t really afford to raise well (emotionally or financially), which prevents them to having access to better options, we ensure a continuous supply of cheap labour. 

And conveniently, keeping people poor, stressed and trapped makes it highly unlikely that they will have the time or energy to organise and demand better. Currently, we have a population of people that are highly stressed, easily frightened, and looking for someone to blame and consistently that scapegoat mentality singles out women, immigrants, the LGBTQ+, etc. — groups that are already marginalised, that people already feel they have permission to treat poorly rather than addressing the systemic issues or institutions that hold real power. 

The intersecting pillars of religion and capitalism under the patriarchy will always mean that anyone who is not cisgender, heterosexual and male demanding autonomy (and sexual desires) will always remain political.

Do you think society has made enough progress or are we currently going backwards?

I don’t think progress is always a linear journey, but I’m certainly concerned by the trends we’ve seen recently.

My darling producer, Ray, always comments that it’s ‘one step forward, five steps back’. It does feel currently that we’re experiencing an extinction burst. But I’m hopeful that that is what this is; a last burst of bad behaviour before a consistent and meaningful change for the better. I’m hopeful, perhaps foolishly, that we will see positive progress in the near future because I can’t and will not consider the alternative. 

The show is said to resonate specially with the queer community. In your opinion, what lies behind the historical persecution of sexual minorities?

When looking at a wider historical context we can never underestimate the coercive and malicious influence of religion. Any institution that is willing to continuously, consistently pardon and enable pedophiles while persecuting consensual adult relationships needs to be scrutinized; harshly and often. 

The same goes for any institute that demands genital mutilation, child exploitation, and/or mindless expansion. Endless growth is the defining feature of a malignant tumour, not an ideal to aspire to. 

Then, there are the dynamics of power and capital. Women have always worked, but they have been very rarely, I would argue they still are not compensated appropriately for their labour. Compulsive heterosexuality and social programming are key aspects of how capitalism is able to function because it has and still does relegate women in particular into positions of service and submission to men. Often, in circumstances that are volatile, unsafe arrangements where they lack their own finances and are beholden to men who, under traditional patriarchy, endeavour to keep them ‘barefoot and pregnant’. 

Capitalism demands a continuous supply of cheap labour and women who are not permitted to be authentically queer or have access to adequate education about their bodies become the incubators for that endless supply of cannon fodder. 

I think people have the fundamental right to safely and appropriately explore who they are among their same aged peers and that simply cannot happen if you have split the population into 2 arbitrary groups and convinced them that one group is simply inferior despite ample evidence to the contrary. The ingrained hated of anything and everything considered to be remotely ‘feminine’ does not just hurt women, it hurts everyone. And we teach children incredibly harmful nonsense about themselves and others from a very young age. It effectively kneecaps any positive progress before it even gets the chance to develop because unlearning harmful ideas about gender, sex, personhood, autonomy, etc, is very difficult in adulthood. This is why religious indoctrination starts young and is always based in fear; you can’t force people to be something they are not without the threat of violence or eternal damnation. 

I had the remarkable privilege to work closely with Indigenous educators in Canada, and pre-colonization sexuality and gender were much more fluid, respected, and revered. Canada is not the only casualty of the corruptive influence of colonization where this is concerned. Two-spirit and what we would consider to be ‘gender non conforming’ individuals are a consistent and important facet of the human experience but they also pose a direct threat to the power dynamics that patriarchy requires to function. 

Queer people are also not a minority; queerness is consistent, common, and natural amongst basically all multicellular, sentient life on earth so even the use of the term ‘minorities’ demonstrates how effectively queer communities have been persecuted and relegated to the footnotes of history. 

Then there are the politics of pleasure. For women in particular this continues to be demonized but for men, be they queer, straight, cis or trans, softness and gentleness are actively discouraged. We do a huge disservice to all young men in a society that demands they conform to a very narrow lens of what is acceptable masculinity. Especially when what is ‘acceptable’ is emotionally constipated and violent. 

I think the root cause of most of the world’s problems, from the climate crisis to the persecution of LGBTQ+ people, stems from the same rot: small groups of people in power who require absolute control and define very claustrophobic and calculated roles for people based on arbitrary and fluid characteristics such as gender in order to maintain harmful hierarchies where few benefit and everyone else suffers.  

Forgive me if that sounds conspiratorial, but in a very literal sense religious institutions and the 1% have a lot to answer for where objective harm and persecution are concerned. My hope is that with access to better education and self acceptance people will become kinder and society will operate on the basis of empirical evidence and authenticity rather than fear mongering and malice. Regardless, I’m going to keep making art with that goal in mind because I am simply incapable of remaining silently complicit when I have the specific tools to entertain and educate.

Would you say the show advocates for LBGT rights? If so, in which manner?

The show focuses quite a lot on the history of queer men, lesbians, how gender constructs have changed over time, and the fact that queer people have always existed. Honestly, I could do a show on just queer history that could easily be over 5 hours long, just with what I know off the top of my head, so condensing it for the sake of the narrative in the show was quite a challenge.

There is a very intentional highlight on trans people, who have always existed and who have been a key facet of not just human society but human evolution (like literally our evolution into modern Homo sapiens is contingent on the existence of queer people). I felt, given the current political climate, the trans community deserved a moment to shine, to be respected, and to hopefully encourage audiences to either be better allies or leave knowing more than they did before. 

I think ignorance is a huge motivator behind a lot of people’s worst behaviours, and I am more than happy to be an educator and sounding board for people to cure their lack of information. Also, we pretty unsubtly call out some bigots in some pretty funny ways.

Is ‘Hysteria’ meant to be hysterical? How so?

We’re pretty deliberately leaning into the satirical piss take here, ‘Hysteria’ was a genuine, diagnosed medical condition up until the 1980s, which deliberately institutionalised women (and some men) and robbed them of their autonomy. 

In the modern sense, it definitely gallows humour. I think sometimes we have a moral obligation to make fun of things, so we never run the risk of taking them seriously ever again.

Also, I’m genuinely full of rage and some of these things are either laugh or cry and I’m making a deicision to laugh and inviting you to laugh with me. My friends know I’m a pretty intense person and making theatre is a pretty healthy outlet for that.

Apart from all the comedy, is there any element of gravitas you’ve tried to convey?

I take moments of deeply sentimental sincerity both when educating and embracing one’s right to explore their identity.

I think also it’s really cathartic to explore subjects like this through comedy, so whilst you may be laughing I think there’s points of reflection in which we really shine a light on the importance of equality and ethical values for all.

How would you summarize the show’s message?

Education is an immutable human right and you should have fun while accessing it. 

Why come see ‘Hysteria’?

I guarantee you will learn something you didn’t already know – or your money back!

Hysteria: A History of Human Sexuality with Callaghans Questions plays at the Edinburgh Fringe until 3 August, followed by a run at the Camden Fringe on 8 and 9 August. Tickets are available on the following link.

By Guillermo Nazara