Rape Culture, Protest Art, and Kara Walker

Let me introduce to you Lucy Hale. Hale is an actress on ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars that targets mostly preteens and teenagers. My little sister who just turned twelve absolutely loves this show and looks up to Lucy Hale. In a recent issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, Hale is seen on the cover and across many pages inside. To the viewer it seems that she is making some sort of debut away from the kid friendly television show and into the larger world of popular culture. In this particular photo, Hale is dressed in a sweater that is simply too tight, no bra, underwear, and heals. She leans over a freshly washed kitchen counter with her cleavage in clear line of vision and her right leg popped. Underneath her is a quote of her saying, “I’m excited for people to see my different sides… I know I’m capable of so much.”  On the refrigerator, in smaller print is another sentence that says, “If Cosmo had a cooking show.” So this picture tells a story, and let me tell you the story I am getting. Hale looks as though she just cooked a meal for someone, cleaned it up and then got into this sexy outfit. Due to our hetero-normative culture, we can assume that she cooked, cleaned, and got dolled up for a man. She says she is “Capable of so much” but this photo portrays her of being capable of cooking, cleaning, and looking sexy, nothing else. This young woman is considered a role model for young generations today. But she is not advocating for a healthy body image or working hard to achieve high grades/ intellect. No, instead she insinuates that she is capable of catering to man’s every need. One might argue that this does not perpetuate rape culture because the image has nothing to do with rape. However, it is imperative that we put rape on a continuum all the way from brutal rape to, what seems like an innocent catcall. Or to a woman suggestively leaning over a counter saying she is capable sooo much…….

Can you blow my whistle, baby?

Whistle, baby, let me know

Girl, I’m gonna show you how to do it

And we start real slow

You just put your lips together

And you come real close

Can you blow my whistle, baby?

Whistle, baby, here we go

“Whistle” by Flo Rida is one of America’s most downloaded hit singles of 2012. It does not take the listener long to realize that this song has absolutely nothing to do with a whistle of any sort. If the lyrics (printed above) alone do not blow your mind, watch the video.

This song and music video degrade a woman down to her body parts. Similar to the last photo, nothing about this video represents women as beings with emotions, aspirations, and loved ones. Instead, it exemplifies women as one-dimensional beings put on this earth to satisfy men visually and sexually. What rape culture does is strip a woman of her human like attributes and treat her as if she were an object to use and abuse. Typical women do not look like the women in this video; however, this is typically the portrayal of an ideal beautiful woman in the media. What does this do to the women who want to be considered attractive in the eyes of society? It tells them that all they have to do is get a boob job, liposuction, stop eating, get a spray tan and learn how to “blow a whistle.” This video portrays women as being good for one thing and one thing only: sexually pleasing a man.

Denim Day is a day in April to raise awareness for rape culture. It is a day dedicated to a case that happened in Italy a little over ten years ago. A forty-five year old man picked up an eighteen-year young woman in Rome for a driving lesson when he proceeded to rape her. When the case was brought to the attention of the Italian Supreme Court, the man was deemed innocent because of her tight jeans. They said that due to the fact that this young woman’s jeans were so tight, she must have helped him take them off of her; therefore, it must have been consensual. Today we need to be working day in and day out to end rape and sexual assault. The Italian Supreme Court looked at a minor detail of the case disregarding the greater issue. It does not matter who took her jeans off, it matters that they came off in the first place. Their decision to grant the man his innocence perpetuates rape culture by denying justice to the woman at hand.

For more information on Denim Day: http://denimdayinla.org/about/history/

PROTEST ART- VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

This is a photo of a piece of art I found online, the author being unknown. It looks as though this piece was drawn on a fence surrounding a location under construction. The background is white with what looks like a black maze. In red ink the piece reads, “It can be physical emotional financial sexual it can come from friends strangers or loved ones and it can be a prison that’s hard to escape.” In the middle is a head that looks as thought it was been physically and emotionally abused. The great thing about this piece is that it is in public. It’s not locked up in an art gallery only observed by people who pay to see it. It’s not in the home of family that paid for it and it’s not online only viewable to those who search for it. Nope, it is in broad daylight forcing people to question and talk about violence against women. The most amazing word in the quote written on this mural is the word and. One would expect the use of the word but in its place because of the change of tone. And this is why the quote and concept are so shocking. It can be physical, emotional, financial, and/or sexual abuse and come from a loved one and be a prison that is hard to escape.

PROTEST ART-RACISM

This piece is simple. It’s simply a photo of four brains; three are the same size and one in significantly smaller than the other three. Each brain of equal size is labeled a particular ethnicity while the small one is labeled a word to describe people that have hatred of people with different ethnicities from their own. The three brains of equal size may be a bit different, but the fact is that they are equal. The use of brain here symbolizes intelligence thus meaning the three brains may be different but they are all essentially equal. The fourth, however, is not only different but it is much, much smaller to connote a lack of intelligence. Throughout history, humans have not only been oppressed by racism but also given up their power in the presence of racism. As Alice Walker said, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” This piece of art reminds us that we must not let racist thoughts and tendencies hold so much over us.

Kara Walker

Kara Walker is an African American feminist artist that produced many pieces examining violence, racism, slavery, and women. Kara predominately used cut-paper silhouettes in her work. The article, “Kara Walker: My compliment, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My love” explains that this form of art has historically been seen as amateur and superficial. When a typical viewer sees black cut-paper silhouettes, they typically expect to see the outline of either a thin white woman dressed elegantly or a strong white man. They do not expect a deeper analysis of the racist, patriarchal culture we live in. In this country, black cut-paper silhouette drawings historically have been associated with Disney art. Disney art normalizes racist and sexist attitudes and is associated with traditional American gender binaries and white supremacy. Walker takes a different approach in her work. At first glance these pieces seem similar to that of Disney and other superficial American artists but when you read the art you see the questions of diversity and equity at play. The web activity brought up many artists and viewers who have had issues with Walker’s art. Betye Saar noted, “I felt the work of Kara Walker was sort of revolting and negative and a form of betrayal to the slaves, particularly women and children; that was basically the for the amusement and investment of the white art establishment.” Yes, this art may mock African Americans, women, and children but to me that is why it is so powerful. It exaggerates ways the United States has treated and seen the black community and women throughout history.