http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/stop-telling-women-to-smile_n_3876041.html?ir=Arts
This was an article I thought this class would enjoy.... talk about grassroots activism. Not only do I love the idea of activism via public art (yeah, I was that cliche kid who got really inspired after watching a Banksy documentary), but I thought it was executed beautifully. I loved that the women in all of the pictures are looking the viewer in the eye, as I think this added a humanizing quality to all of the pieces. Like every other woman with a pulse, this is an issue that I face walking to and from class, going into the grocery store, etc. What upsets me most about cat-calling is that I feel robbed of my identity- I'm simply "hey girl" or "that ass" (both which I have received in the past week). I honestly don't think that men are cognizant of the embarrassment, belittlement, or fear that this behavior can strike in women, and so I loved this project for putting a face to the victims.
I love this too! I heard about this earlier this summer from npr
ReplyDelete(http://www.npr.org/2013/06/15/187745940/fighting-unwanted-cat-calls-one-poster-at-a-time)
What a powerful way to combat this unnecessary attention women so often receive.
I was thinking about our class this weekend when, wearing a comfortable maxi skirt on a road trip back to stl from Chicago. I was outside the gas station and a man comes by, stands next to me, and says "you're awfully dressed up with no place to go". I didn't know how to respond, but I saw his remark coming from a mile away. I responded without making eye contact, "I'm just comfortable." in my deepest most uninterested voice haha, to try to emphasize that there is nothing special here, nothing noteworthy, nothing worth his comments. I could have just straight up ignored him, and I admit this is definitely not the most offensive thing I've ever had said to me, and probably not the most effective response, but it just goes back to why he feels the right to comment on my appearance at all. He kept trying to engage me in conversation, but I ignored it. And maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but if I were a guy dressed in whatever comfortable/slightly dressy whatever, would he say anything? I'm not there for him to look at and judge, I didn't wear the maxi skirt so someone would talk to me about how I look-I'm just comfortable. gahh!
Claudia I am so sorry about your experience! You are in no way making a mountain out of a molehill. Instead, comments like you and Hannah talk about in this post express a disgusting kind of oppression that is constantly put on women. In another WGST class we talked about how comments like the ones both of you have experienced (as have most/all women) is a form of male oppression that says: "I can comment on your body because I am higher. Your body is not your own." When comments like that are used it is a degradation of the female body, and it takes away our self-ownership.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I had not seen this street art before and I think it is revolutionary! I wish the artist would post her art around SLU's campus and STL. So many times in my work place I am called baby, sweetie, hun etc. and it makes me sick. Posters like the ones done by Fazlalizadeh put my thoughts onto the streets, and allow for female rights to be more accessible to the masses.