TOO SEXY FOR THE STREETS
TOO SEXY FOR THE STREETS
"Too Sexy For The Streets" is a trail of paste-ups created for the North London Lates festival . The artwork explores themes of sexuality and objectification in public space, inspired by my personal experience and a collage workshop that I led for the London Festival of Architecture. With this project, I hope to engage and challenge viewers to think critically about the way we view and treat sexuality in public spaces.
STORIES BEHIND THE WORK
Each piece created for TOO SEXY FOR THE STREETS is inspired by conversations with people about their experiences of sexuality and objectification in public spaces. The first piece is called "GET YOUR TITS OUT". Women's experiences of how their bodies are sexualised seem to go through a wild ride as they age and change. They are often sexualised before they are actually old enough to have sex, making girls aware that the way they move through the city is forever changed. In their young adulthood they continue to be hyper-sexualized, leaving them with a decision to embrace or to hide. Next, when women have children, the result of having sex (the irony is not lost on us), a demure modest status is thrust upon mothers. They are no longer an object of desire for white van men. A blessing perhaps? Until they hit middle age and become just… invisible. Is this depressing? Do you agree? Let me know.
When asking people to imagine what a liberated city would be like, they mostly described a feeling of freedom and joy. Inspired by people who joined my workshop, who seem to embody that feeling in the present, I tried to capture that energy. Dancing in your underwear in the middle of the street feels pretty close. This paste up is undercover, so it was not affected by the storm. I visited it yesterday, and It’s still going strong 2 weeks after installation! I even spotted that people have been playing football against them, and they are not giving up! It feels symbolic. Keep dancing
The other day, I was walking into the tube, and a TFL worker smiled at me, I instinctively smiled back. He then raised an ipad with an animated smile gif that said the word smile. I stopped smiling. I think he thought he was spreading joy. But I noticed it was only women who were being shown the ipad, and all of us responded politely. I stewed the whole way home, annoyed for not talking to him about it. The whole "cheer up love" or "give us a smile" I believe, is the polite man's cat call. Just the way a cat call doesn't actually mean the man wants to have sex with you, (it's about control and humiliation more than desire) these men dont really care if we are happy or not. It reduces us to objects to be enjoyed, not people. And then we internalise it. RESTING BITCH FACE IS NOT REAL. ITS JUST YOUR FACE. Funny how 'Resting Dickhead Face' isn’t a thing hey?...
In the workshop, people got nostalgic for when you could get chatted up in public, which seems almost a relic of the past. Remember when 'getting chirpsed' was a thing?! 🐦 I think with a combination of living post 'Me Too' and online dating, courtship has left our streets. Perhaps it just feels too difficult to navigate? I spoke to women who were taking matters into their own hands and have started asking men out in public.
Then last week on the tube, I watched it happen in real time! A stunning girl moved seats and sat next to the most gorgeous guy and started talking to him. I couldn't believe it, I felt like an extra in a rom com watching a meet cute IRL. I held my breath and tried not to stare.... She got totally pied. 😭 She took it like a queen and got off at the next stop. I hope she keeps searching for her happy ending.
For this piece, I created a set of fictional film posters playing with typical rom com imagery.
Note: I was having a debate with myself on whether to include queer couples in my posters. After discussions with LGBTQ+ people, it is clear that the community is leaps ahead of straight people when it comes to consent. There is a necessity to communicate in public and private queer spaces because societies gender roles are not default. Heteros we need to take notes.
During the research for this project, I had a super interesting conversation about how public spaces can be sacred for intimacy when you have no private space at home. Kissing behind the bike sheds used to be a teenage trope, but as young adults are finding it harder to move out of home, and if you and your partner live with your parents, this adolescent pursuit for privacy outdoors is extended well into your 20s. Tall grass is not the same as your own flat, but you have to take what you can get in this extortionate city.
In the workshop someone created a collage exploring how objectification can occur before even leaving the house when you come from a culturally conservative family. Her father and brothers would debate the acceptable length of the skirt she could wear in public. We rolled our eyes and joked about how knees seem to be 'too sexy for the streets'!
It got me thinking about the cause and effect of parenting and although I do not agree with controlling behavior that perpetuates treating women like objects, I do think, even the most liberal of parents have a tricky line to walk when their teenagers' ideologies do not match up with the reality they will experience in public.
This week I saw a post from someone saying 'consent is sexy, so dress like a slut'. I agree, wear whatever you want. But as previously discussed we are not there yet when it comes to consent, and I don't think we can dress our way into that culture shift. I hope it goes without saying I would never victim blame, I do not think we should dress like nuns until male violence ends. What I want to share is how tiring and sad it is, that there is so much baggage attached, to the simple act of deciding what to wear to go outside so you are not deemed
The final piece of the project. 🏁 I was inspired by a conversation I had at my TSFTS workshop with another artist. Their collage was a reclaiming of the phrase 'Too Sexy For The Streets' They shared with me their experience of being a non binary person who's identity is not understood at home and how they usually leave the house presenting one way and transform into their true self in a public bathroom on the way to their destination. Like Superman in a phone box but 100 times more fabulous.
This concept of a public dressing room swirled in my brain, and when I was looking for sites for my paste ups, I came across these boarded up gendered entrances. 2 for men 🙄 1 for women. I decided these would be my canvas.
First, I evened out the representation. The letters are carved into the architecture of the building, feeling so permanent. But I pasted over 'ME' in MEN and transformed it to 'NB'. 🏳️🌈 I hope one day the queer community get their genders carved into stone too. 💗
For the artwork, I wanted to celebrate the performance of getting ready to go out by creating a public dressing room. My intention with the artwork is to not only celebrate how wonderfully different we all are (wouldn't the world be extremely dull otherwise) but also... if you take a step back, aren't we all kind of doing the same thing? We brush/cut and shave patterns in our hair, add sparkly things on our body, paint colours on our face and put gender costumes on, so when we go outside we feel good and other people think we look nice. Isn't this the cutest thing when you think about it? We ALL play dress up from day 1, and we don't stop.
Images from ‘TOO SEXY FOR THE STREETS’ for London Festival of Architecture
