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Video: Stop Telling Women To Smile
By
Lauren Evans
Published Apr 16, 2014
Modified Apr 16, 2014
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Apr 16, 2014
Modified Apr 16, 2014
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Street harassment is an amorphous entity, which is perhaps why it's so difficult to address. At what point does a genuine complement become an unwanted overture?
Women are accustomed to hearing men's thoughts on their bodies as they walk down the street, but another, equally insidious phenomenon is the order to "smile." This one is particularly grating, perhaps because of its multi-pronged implications—that women are obligated to look pretty and happy regardless of whether they feel that way; that men or anyone have the right to instruct another being how they should arrange their facial muscles; that if you're not smiling you are not fulfilling your obligation to society to make the world a sunnier place.
The suggestion is not cute, impish or funny. It's tiresome and demeaning. As such, artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh in 2012 launched a project, aptly titled "Stop Telling Women to Smile," in which she talks with women about their experiences with street harassment, and then draws their portraits. She also pulls a particular poignant or meaningful quote from their conversation, which incorporates it in the drawing. The entire arrangement is printed, and Fazlalizadeh pastes them around town—usually a neighborhood in which her subjects live or frequent.
"I thought it was important to talk about street harassment where it actually happens, in the environment," she said.
Stop Telling Women To Smile from Dean Peterson on Vimeo.
The goal of the project is simple. "I'm putting a face to these words," said Fazlalizadeh. "It's not just 'Hey, street harassment is bad'—you actually get to see this person's face, this woman's face, who goes through this daily, and what she wants to say about it."
Anti-Street Harassment week has just concluded, but that doesn't mean the message shouldn't live on through the rest of the year, at least as long as there exist men like this gem unearthed by NPR:
"Anthony Williams runs a clothing shop on a busy strip in Bedford-Stuyvesant. He says he's not being offensive when he calls out at women; it's part of his DNA. 'I'm a man, I'm supposed to,' the 30-year-old says. 'I mean, I think every man, if they see a woman they feel is attractive, should try to do what they can to acquire this woman.'"
We've got some work to do.
Tagged
stop telling women to smile
street harassment
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
Lauren Evans
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