A Woman's Right to Her Own Body

An issue that is often addressed by artists and activists is every aspect of Women’s Empowerment.  From sexual harassment to reproductive rights, there are an abundance of people, the majority is not men, that believe in this movement.  There was a Women’s March that took place across the world, this is such a controversial issue.  One of the most important ones currently being reproductive rights and access to free birth control.  

Keep Your Laws Off My Silky Draws--Mary Purdie

Mary Purdie created a poster that was displayed during the Women’s March that reads “Keep your laws off my silky draws” specifically aiming towards lawmakers banning 20 week abortions, but can easily be used when talking about how lawmakers do not want to offer co-pay free birth control to women.  This is not a struggle for just one woman, but all of them.  In Seeing Power, Nate Thompson (2015)  notes “Finding commonalities is absolutely crucial in order to attract curiosity.”  Someone that is not totally knowledgeable will see this image and know what it represents, and once he/she can relate, there is a potential for that person to get in on the resistance.  Purdie is very straight forward with her intentions of her poster, lawmakers who consist primarily of men, should not be making laws on a woman’s body, religion should not be a contributing factor when it comes to making laws.  What one person believes, is not what the next person believes.  The colors and simplicity of the work is what gets to the audience, a huge pair of underwear with words on it, does not leave much to interpret, the audience is drawn straight to the text.  

Not Yours--Heather Freeman

Another very powerful art piece is “Not Yours” by Heather Freeman.  This piece addresses all that is wrong with trying to put laws on to a woman's body.  The woman in the piece is clearly undressed with only a stash to cover her intimate areas, but what is behind her is the most important part.  There are a plethora of reasons against putting laws on women’s bodies.  The background says things like “forced pregnancy is slavery” and “family planning makes healthier families.”

And these are things that seem like common sense to many of us.  A woman can do what she wants with her body, no one knows the woman’s struggle besides the woman herself and those other WOMAN that can relate.  In chapter 2 of Seeing Power Nato Thompson (2015) shares “one person’s idea of didactic is another person’s state of confusion.”  These very simplistic, yet powerful works of art are what some people need to see, and maybe the change of heart does not come suddenly, maybe not at all, but they were exposed to the resistance in the end.  Activism in art can reach many audiences, it takes more time than political activism.  These artists take time out of their daily lives to make these pieces in hopes for a change that may not happen.  Political activism will be looked at by other politicians, art activism is not looked at the same way, art is so underrated and does not get the recognition it deserves when trying to fix an actual issue in society.  That is why the activist community have created forms of organizing, since power comes in numbers.  Thompson (2015) also states in Seeing Power that the organizing accounts for privilege, gender, and racial anarchy.  Basically, a person that wants to resist, can certainly find a group that is right for them and feel empowered to make a change, something they may not have been confident in prior to finding this group of resistance.  

Vaginas Are More Regulated Than Guns - Cloe

The last art piece that I found is by Cloe, called “Vaginas Are More Regulated Than Guns.”  She made it back in 2013, and can still be used today.  This piece of work kills two birds with one stone.  Addressing both a women’s reproductive rights and gun control issue.  A double whammy.  The audience views this piece, maybe not even know that is the case in society, they learned that from this specific piece.  The audience can feel either enraged or inspired, both sides are still talking. And that is the important piece to powerful resistance art.  Thompson (2015) also shares in the book Seeing Power, “seeing power is a form of reading an infrastructure or in more simple terms, a context.”  One sees where the power is, where the potential is and aims towards it with the art, or however the individual wishes.  

All three artists used digital media to create their pieces, which can make it easier to be printed and duplicated to post online or make posters of for marches and such.  They all were straight forward with their intentions of the project, where there was no second guessing what they supported and whose side they were on, which is a beautiful thing, the audience never had to be confused.  It so important to look at women’s reproductive rights because women are indeed carrying the kids of our future, and there are a lot variables that can cause a woman to not be able to take care of her child properly.  Then there are lawmakers that want to take away birth control, that can hold off pregnancy in a woman until she is financially stable, settled down, whatever it maybe.  There are lawmakers that want to make abortions illegal and make it a criminal offense, not taking into consideration the many women that have bodies that cannot hold a pregnancy, women that are raped, women whose primary source of birth control failed and they are just not ready.  There is so much to being a women with working reproductive organ, and all of our choices of what we can do with it is being taken away.

Outside sources:

50 Protest Posters Designed By Women Amplify The Voices Of Resistance

Drawn by Mary (More awesome resistance art can be found here!)

Cloe's Trump Period Pieces (Squeamish beware)