Beloved Philadelphia-based feminist activist group, Pussy Division, has created a brilliant new series of street art installations around Philly for International Anti-Street Harassment Week!
Pussy Division elaborated on their installations with me this afternoon via email: 12” Portable Ventilation Fan
International Anti-Street Harassment Week (2nd to 8th of April) is a growing and global effort which aims to help create awareness around the causes and effects of street harassment, which is part of the larger concept of rape culture.
Pussy Division wanted to create a project which would be effective yet powerful, that is how we came up with the idea of mimicking ‘caution’ tape with different messages like “don’t comment on my body”.
We want people to realize that street harassment isn’t just inconvenient, but frightening and degrading. Our hope is that when people see the tape, they’ll relate the idea of caution with safety for those who are targeted by street harassment but also use it as a warning to not harass people in the street.
Starting this past Sunday evening (April 2), Pussy Division began putting up their anti-street harassment caution tape at various locations around South Philly, Fishtown, Northern Liberties, and West Philly. And they’ve told me they plan to continue to put the tape up around Center City, Old City, and other high-traffic areas across Philly throughout this week!
See pervious work by Pussy Division around Philly here!
Whelp. I thought exactly the opposite of what the artist intended. I saw those photos, read the text on the tape, and thought, “oh, this is to make fun of women who complain about being called out for being attractive…”. I’ve never met an honest woman who doesn’t want to be attractive. So, that’s what I thought.
I know, it’s hard to understand, but we live in a world with a 50/50 mix of men and women. And… there’s the whole thing with the bell-curve. Men are attracted to women. And the average man (bell curve) wants to have sex with a woman. Most women (bell curve) want to be desired by a man who can support them and their future children. What’s the surprise there? This isn’t rocket science.
So, if a man drives by in a luxury car, and appears to have material assets that meet the average woman’s desires (for above said reasons), and says, “nice car…” …. what’s the difference? It’s animal behavior.
Humans are animals. Get over it. Live your life. Get a job, and stop worrying about what other’s are doing. Worry about what YOU are doing. If you have nothing to do, get a job.
This irritates me, so I have to write one more thing: what a lazy art project. Call up some yellow tape company, order some yellow tape with the text (that took two PBRs to think up), wrap a few things in low-traffic areas (one person in the photo set?), take some photos of the wrappings, and then put them onto the WWW? This “art” project makes zero impact.
If the “artist” really believed in their work or argument, they’d wrap this creative CSI tape around gym exercise machines, the women’s section of the magazine rack at barnes & noble, beauty salons, merchandise racks at any retail clothing store that doesn’t provide ankle/sleve-length dresses, beach parking lot signs, etc., etc.
You know… places where women spend their time, energy, and money to enjoy, or anticipate enjoying, being perceived as attractive.
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