Sometimes an image can say more than a thousand words. A protest photograph shows a mix of emotions and events that can help to build up our understanding on the event, or the complete opposite. It can burst curiosity to know more about determined occasion, what originated the protest, and what happened afterwards. I came across a particular protest photograph that caught my attention. It is composed by a diversity of women. When looking at it for the first time, my eyes settled in words written in the women’s bodies. They are offensive words, diminishing women’s values. Next, my eyes are directed to the fact that the two women up front are on their undergarments. There are a crowd of women standing and the focus is in three white, young women …show more content…
It started, according to assistant editor at The Huffington Post UK, Dina Rickman, “after a policeman told students in Toronto women should avoid dressing provocatively if they didn’t want to get sexually assaulted” (Rickman). The purpose of Slut Walks is to address the rape culture. Instead of telling women how to dress accordingly to avoid dangerous situations that could lead to sexual assault, these walks are trying to edify the society that a victim’s choice of outfit does not make them responsible for rape. According to Jesse Long, “the walk also strives to educate men on how to treat women as equals and not objects to control” …show more content…
Men use the excuse that on the occasion, the woman was dressed provocatively or drunk. Does that really an opportunity to sexually abuse someone? As Sara Ditum wrote, “does flashing my thigh mean I deserve to get raped (no) and should the police advise women against flashing their thighs for their own protection (no again)” (Sara Ditum). And yet, in the majority of rape cases, the rapists are not prosecuted. The case gets forgotten, and the victim will keep on living fearfully, and do not have justice on her side. It is not right to take advantage of a women in any situation, and women of all ages and races are trying to be heard more than ever before. They want freedom to do with their body what they think is right. To dress the how they like, to go out and not fear having their body
This photograph, taken in 1967 in the heart of the Vietnam War Protests, depicts different ideologies about how problems can be solved. In the picture, which narrowly missed winning the Pulitzer Prize, a teen is seen poking carnations into the barrels of guns held by members of the US National Guard. This moment, captured by photographer Bernie Boston symbolizes the flower power movement. Flower power is a phrase that referred to the hippie notion of “make love not war”, and the idea that love and nonviolence, such as the growing of flowers, was a better way to heal the world than continued focus on capitalism and wars. The photograph can be analyzed through the elements of image as defined by ‘The Little Brown Handbook’ on page 86. There are a total of nine elements that contribute to the communicative quality of an image. The message that this particular image tries to convey is the strong sense of way that conflict should be handled; by way of guns or by way of flowers. The ‘way of guns’ is violence and excessive force which heavily contradicts the ‘way of flowers’ which is a more peaceful and diplomatic way of handling conflict or disagreement. This photograph depicts these ideologies through its use of emphasis, narration,point of view, arrangement, color, characterization, context and tension.
Protests have long been a way for people to display their difference in opinion and gain support. One of the many protests against the war that had a powerful effect on public opini...
The way they hold themselves with contorted stature gives away that they are able to corrupt peace. The shorter man in the white shirt with a black flag symbol on it shows that he may be ignorant to what his shirt represents. His shirt stands for anarchism, a political statement that wants stateless societies that are self-governed (Marshall 4). Anarchism is dealt with in harmful ways back when is first began in the mid 1800s. The symbol on the shirt the boy is wearing represents the time when anarcho-punk bands joined anarchism and made the circle with an ‘a’ through it a national symbol. The girl on the other hand, on the far right hand side, portrays risqué attire. With a cut off shirt and what looks like patched up clothing, can show a lack of respect for ones body. The boy who has his arm around her, looks similar in attire. It shows that he is not wearing a shirt and only a jacket. He looks like he is want-to-be band boy. The boy on the left side has hands raised looking as if he is trying to scare the mother, and by the look on the mothers face, the boy has succeeded. These kids aren’t helping make socialization a good thing what so
First, the scene in the image was manipulated through stage-managing, a common practice in photojournalism. While the image of the migrant mother, Florence Thompson, appears to the viewer to be a genuine and unprompted look at the hardship and deprivation of a dejected migrant woman. This, of course, was the reality of Ms. Thompson’s personal situation at the time. But the scene itself was micromanaged to appear in a lucid and vivid form in the image, including editing Ms. Thompson’s older children from the image to create the more poignant scene of a mother holding a small child and using a pose in which the woman is looking out into the distance, with the two children told to lo...
The way the photo was taken only showing the people being abused adds hardship. It does not show the policemen who are spraying the hoses, which makes them seem even more evil and more like the bad guys. This gives the effect of a faceless foe and adds to the drama of the picture. This image shows that the protesters were willing to endure pain to get what they desired and deserved. The people in the background wanting to give up and go home, stay and show that they support their cause and are willing to fight for what they believe in. The man holding the woman shows the power and pain endured during the protest. They show that they are determined to get what they believe but also are being unfairly harassed.
However, these historical women’s efforts are disrespected when Dunham comments that “seeing a bunch of women marching and getting arrested in petty coats is hilarious” and compares this to “seeing a bunch of women growing their armpit hair as a rebellious act,” which she states is as also “hilarious.” Dunham fails to recognize the fact that these women in petty coats and their efforts often resulted in police brutality, violence against women, and intensified societal discrimination towards women in America, especially women of color. This not so hilarious phenomenon even continues today against those who use protests and boycotts in order to actively resist gender inequality, which often even leaves to their murder, that is even excused by the justice
Over the last twenty years the Guerrilla Girls have established a strong following due to the fact that they challenged and consistently exhibited a strong supportive subject matter that defies societal expectations. In an interview “We reclaimed the word girl because it was so often used to belittle grown women. We also wanted to make older feminists sit up and n...
This project will use a feminist media analysis of mainstream newspapers to explore the discourse around the ideology of sexual assault and women protesting in public space. I argue that the coverage of sexual assaults during Occupy Wall Street used a “blame the victim” narrative to link the participation of women protesting in public space to gender based violence. Feminist researc...
Jasper, James M. The Art of Moral Protest Culture: Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. Print.
It was once acceptable for men to have full control over women, declaring when they will marry and when they will have children. However, over the past centuries, women have established a place in society, proving themselves much more than someone's property. This is why the word “rape” today is not taken lightly. According to findlaw.com, “Rape generally refers to non-consensual sexual intercourse that is committed by physical force, threat of injury, or other duress.” When one does not give consent to sex, it is considered a felony, possibly putting the rapist in jail. Contrary to sexual assault, “Sex is reified as penile-vaginal intercourse while an extremely diverse group of pleasurable and sexually stimulating activities are dismissively relegated to the category of foreplay...” (Reinholtz, Muehlenhard, Phelps, & Satterfield, 1995.) Although consented sexual intercourse is much more out in the open and accepted in society, the problem of rape is still very relevant behind the scenes.
The scheduled events were very standard consciousness raising Women’s Liberation protests: picketing, guerilla theater, leafleting, and “lobbying visits” to attempt to reason with the contestants. The component of the protest that would draw the most press attention was called the “Freedom Trash Can.” The Freedom Trash Can was meant for burning instruments of “women torture” including: bras, girdles, curlers, false eyelashes, steno pads, and issues of women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan. The flier also asks women to come and add their own surprises, which shows the protestors’ lack of concern about the bad publicity the movement could possibly receive. Another troubling aspect of the flier is the list of groups invited to the protests.
Burt explains that “the hypothesized net effect of rape myths is to deny or reduce perceived injury or to blame the victims for their own victimization” (Burt, 217). When men get raped they don't see it as getting raped. Yet, when it comes to women they are more easily blamed because of “poor choices” like walking down an alleyway late at night, wearing sexy clothes or for drinking too much, giving a man a “justifiable” reason for his actions. McMahon also describes how “common rape myths include the belief that the way a woman dresses or acts indicates that “she wanted it” and that rape occurs because men cannot control their sexual impulses” (McMahon, 357). Chapleau, Oswald and Russel also explicate how “benevolent sexism is associated with victim blaming to protect one’s belief in a just world” (602). Benevolent sexism is the reverent attitudes that reward women who are traditionally feminine and is similar to hostile sexism in the idea that hostile sexism is when women are objectified or degraded often presented as anger, resentment or fear, while benevolent sexism is just as harmful, but put into a positive disguise, in a casual nonchalant manner that doesn’t make it so
The picture is a scale in which the female side is higher than the male side. Women have always been since as less than a man, an outlook that can be traced all the way back to the bible. According to the bible, Eve was created from Adams rib, which was supposed to be construed as his loving her because she was made of his flesh has been corrupted that women are less than a man. Even the United States, the pioneer of freedom and rights, still pays a woman less than a man. A women’s opinion is still doubted or in some cases not even listened to especially when they hold positions of power. In third world countries, if a woman is attacked or raped it is her fault, just because she is a woman. Infanticide, the killing of female babies, is still predominant in areas all over the world. Mothers rid themselves of girl children so that they don’t have to worry about dishonor or providing a dowry. This killing of females is also represented in the art. This artwork should remain on Tejon Street as a reminder as how far we have come as women and how we have much work ahead of us in order to get true
Modern America, in accordance to course materials and personal experiences, overtly sexualizes people, specifically among the youth, engendering new versions of gender expectations, roles, relationships, and how society views people based on appearance, sexual promiscuity or supposed promiscuity, and so on. Easy A (2011) represents an example clarifying how gender socialization impacts today’s youth via several concepts such as slut shaming, slut glorification, challenging masculinity, dating/hooking up, gender expectations and social acceptance. This film primarily focuses on a female’s promiscuity. Olive, the main character, is automatically labeled slut, after a rumor she unintentionally sparked by a bathroom conversation. Soon, the rumor spread and Olive became “school slut” in minutes.
A growing population of women’s activists can be attributed to the growing number of courses being offered and information available. Only a few decades ago this would not have been heard of. It is due to the increasing amount of awareness on the topic of women’s status as second class citizens that activism has increased. Through various media, we have learned of topics such as the “glass ceiling”, the working conditions of women in Third World countries, the current injustices against women being carried out in the First World, reproductive rights, as written about by Angle Davis, and other limitations imposed on women.