Cloud 9 Sexuality & Sexual Identity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Cloud 9. Caryl Churchill. Routledge, 2000.

Quote #4

"It's very sexy, you said it is. You said the women were priests in the temples and f---ed all the time. I'm just helping." (2.3.24-26)

Victoria, Edward, and Lin decide in Act 2 that they're going to have an orgy. And not just any orgy, but an outdoor park orgy in honor of old pagan religious traditions based around a goddess. Christianity is mostly based around the idea of god the father, but Victoria and the gang want to have sex while praising a female deity.

Quote #5

"And the women had the children and nobody knew it was done by f---ing so they didn't know about fathers and nobody cared who the father was." (2.3.68-70)

We don't know how much of this she's making up, but Victoria claims that in pre-Christian religions, people weren't yet aware that babies came from sex. So the society didn't think it needed men at all except for giving women pleasure. It's certainly a reversal of the male-centric view of the world Clive puts forward in Act 1.

Quote #6

"Well that's all right. If all we're talking about is having a lot of sex there's no problem. I was all for the sixties when liberation just meant f---ing." (2.3.97-99)

Victoria's husband Martin stumbles across Victoria, Lin, and Edward having an orgy in the middle of the park. They invite him to join, and he ain't in the mood to say no. He goes on to add that he's all for women's liberation as long as it means more sex for everybody. Or in other words, his support for women is a tad superficial. But who cares, says Churchill. It's an orgy!