Everybody Else's Girl

thelazyliberal:

Take a look at this photo. This photograph was chosen by World Press Photo as one of the best photographs taken this year. This woman, Inna Shevchenko, is one of the leaders of Femen, a feminist Ukrainian Protest Group. Here she was protesting against sex tourism, sexism, and social problems. While I admire her bravery and courage to stand outside and protest the hyper-sexuality of women in such a bold way, some members of my photography class do not. Comments such as the following were rampant:

“I mean, it’s cool that she took her top off, but it’s pointless.”

“She could use some ab work, look at that chub.”

and my personal favorite:

“She’s just asking for men to gawk at her and stare at her tits.”

Instead of admiring this strong woman for standing up for her rights, the men of the class only focused on her breasts and body, making her into an object to be criticized and critiqued, as if she is on display to impress them. Just because she decided to take her shirt off does not in fact give you license to criticize her stomach or gawk at her breasts. And it does in fact have a point, and a very important one that these comments exposed to me in my class today. Even strong women attempting to take part in a social and political movement and make a real statement get reduced down to single body parts. 

Unfortunately, this kind of objectification and sexism exists even when presented with a photograph in a professional context. Those who say that feminism is a waste of time are wrong. While we may be equal to men on paper, in reality, it is far from that. As a woman myself, I say we need to keep going until women are regarded the same as men in every aspect of life.